Doom's Day
by Sub-Zero MKA
Summary: Victor von Doom has returned and has a plan that threatens to tear the very fabric of reality apart. The only ones standing in his way is the metahuman taskforce put together by Phil Coulson. Can they put a stop to Doom's schemes, or will Doom have his day? Part VII of The Masters AU. Rated T for language. Characters are owned by Disney, Marvel, and Fox.
1. SOS

_**A/N:** As promised months ago, here's the next installment of **The Masters** AU, Doom's Day. I'll be releasing the chapters, baring any unforeseen setbacks, once a week. I'll still be working on Untold Stories, also, which will be released on the weekend. Hope you guys enjoy, and don't forget to fave, follow, and review :)_

* * *

 _ **Doom's Day**_

 _ **SOS**_

 **SHIELD Helicarrier Delta**

 **March 1, 2017 – 8:15 PM**

It had been over a year since the Kree invasion, two years since Ultron's attempted genocide, four years since the Masters of Evil came dangerously close to taking over the planet, and nearly five years since Loki led the Chitauri invasion of Manhattan. Since May 5, 2012, the world had never been the same. Every year, it seemed that a new threat arose to threaten the peace and sanctity of the planet Earth. Every year, a group of heroes arose to stop that threat before it was too late.

The world had been pushed to the brink time and time again. Many, rightfully, began wondering if the next time was the last time the Avengers would be able to stem the tide of evil and protect the people who couldn't protect themselves. It was a touchy subject for a lot of people. So many people had suffered due to villainy; either directly or indirectly. Something had to be done.

That something very nearly was a change in the White House. In late 2016, President Simpson ran for reelection. Her platform was that the country needed continuity and a steady hand to help guide them during this time of great uncertainty. Many in the country agreed with her. However, her opponent, media mogul and reality star Mike Carter, tapped into the nation's fear and burgeoning xenophobia that Simpson herself fanned during her speech after the Kree invasion had been thwarted.

It very nearly led to her downfall. Carter gained a mountain of support in rural areas, as well as people who were fed up with how the world was constantly in danger. His promises to protect them from alien invasions, mutants, and the like appealed to them, even if the more sensible in the population could easily see there was no way he could carry them out. It wasn't until SHIELD found and revealed his strong ties with former Hydra head Baron Strucker, as well as his history with Russian prostitutes, that the US came to its senses and reelected Simpson in an overwhelming landslide.

The next month, with the UN's blessing, the World Security Council was reformed. Comprised of trustworthy members of the hero community – Captain America, Jean Grey, Invisible Woman, Black Panther, Director Coulson, Director Brand, and Tony Stark – they took it upon themselves to make sure that every possible threat was dealt with quickly and efficiently. That word, efficiency, had become a buzzword ever since Ultron. Even then, they knew that heroes needed to shape up or be replaced. Under the purview of the WSC, exactly the former happened.

The world seemed to have turned the corner and was headed toward peace and security at long last.

Part of the process of turning the corner was giving SHIELD another helicarrier. After the fiasco with Hydra and its Insight helicarriers two years ago, everyone was understandably leery. But, Phil Coulson had earned the UN's trust, so they signed off on it.

With Tony's and Reed Richard's help, they constructed another helicarrier. It was the same build as the ones Hydra used, minus the targeting satellite. With the long range cannons, they were able to snuff of powerful enemy threats from thousands of miles away without risking any agents. Finally, it seemed that SHIELD was returning to its former glory.

Which was why it was completely unsurprising that it was under attack on the first day of March, not even a month after it had been in the air. Metal ships that looked more like sleds than anything else fired green energy blasts to cover their approach to dump their cargo on the helicarrier's deck. That cargo was a fleet of silver robots.

Explosions rocked the barely new helicarrier. Scorch marks were burned into the deck. Many of the rail guns had been destroyed.

Coulson was in Washington at the time, which meant that his deputy, Commander Maria Hill, was in command. "What the hell is going on around here?! Where's our air support?! Someone get those main railguns firing! Someone get me Gen. Ross pronto!" Agents scampered from one station to another to follow her orders as quickly as humanly possible.

Suddenly, the video screens in front of Hill came to life. _"Maria Hill."_ It was none other than Victor von Doom in all his glory. He appeared to be sitting casually, with his gauntlet-clad hands clasped together.

Hill's eyes narrowed, but inwardly, her heart rate tripled. "Doom. I'll have your head for this."

" _I have no time for empty threats, agent. Surrender your ship to me now, or I shall destroy it."_

 _Of all the times for Phil to accept a dinner date from the President._ "We'll see about that." She tapped a comm link on her glove. "This a priority alert to all superhumans. Helicarrier Delta requesting immediate support." When she looked up, Doom was gone. "Shit. That bastard is back for real. Someone get Director Coulson. Now!"

Doom was responsible for the attack on the helicarrier. That was both surprising and unsurprising. She was one of those that believed that he had returned months ago, but had been lulled into a false sense of security when he hadn't made a move yet. They had even been keeping an eye on Latveria, for as much good as that had done. The borders were sealed up tight and pinning Doom down for a heart-to-heart was next to impossible if he didn't want it to happen. After weeks of failed attempts at reaching him, Coulson resigned to just keeping a close eye on them and hoping for the best.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty, but that was an error in judgment that had just cost them. Doom was the highest profile villain on the planet, just edging out Magneto. His intellect and power made him a formidable foe for anyone. The Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and – funnily enough – Luke Cage had all squared off against him. In the end, they won the day, but not without a fight.

In the end, he always got away. It was her resolve to make sure that didn't happen this time around. "Get me the Baxter Building."

* * *

On the upper deck, SHIELD agents dressed in their blue jumpsuits and white gloves and boots tried their best to battle the robotic horde that was accosting them and the helicarrier. The robots weren't particularly hardy; but what they lacked in durability, they more than made up for in numbers and firepower. Just one blast was enough to send the normal human defenders flying. "We need air support, right freaking now!"

"Help!" A blonde agent was cornered by five of the drones, with only her assault rifle to fend them off. She had just run out of ammunition, and seemed to be at the end of her rope.

Suddenly, a bright flash of lightning crashed down in the middle of the small robot grouping, branching out on impact and electrocuting the lot of them. The agent was unharmed and wasted no time to retreating to a safer position until she could reload.

Another lightning bolt crashed down, accompanied by a bright flash of light. Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, and Wolverine were left when it dissipated. They just so happened to be in the same place when they received Hill's SOS call. Immediately, Steve assessed the situation.

Gunships were flying above, filling the sky with their laser ordnance to provide the robots with air support. The most critical thing was taking them out to make the rest easier. Next was drawing them away from the agents and toward where the deck's railguns were situated, on the stern. "Thor, take out their gunships! Spider-Man, draw them toward the stern!"

Thor nodded and flew skyward with a gust of wind.

"You got it, Cap!" Peter attached a webline to a passing gunship and was carried off, whooping like an excitable child. "Gotta love being a target."

"Wolverine—" Steve started before he was cut off.

"Stow it, boyscout. I don't take orders from you." With that, he ran to the edge of the helicarrier and leaped off, claws extended. He landed on a robot riding in a gunship and slashed it mercilessly before moving on to the others.

Thor effortlessly crashed through a gunship, rendering it unable to sustain flight. He was too busy watching it sink to the ground far below them and looking for another target to see them ship coming up from behind him. He was struck in the back by a green blast. While he wasn't hurt, he was incensed. "Soulless machine!" he roared as the sky came to life with flashes of lightning and the roars of bitterly angry thunder. "How dare you strike at the Son of Odin!" A massive bolt of lightning tore through the gunship, reducing it and its half dozen occupants to ash.

Peter shook his head. "Showoff." He crawled from the bottom of the gunship he was hitching a ride on to the interior. He tapped the driver on the shoulder. "Excuse me, is this the ferry to Ferris Island?" When the robot turned around to futilely swipe at him, he got a good look at it. It was an Ultron drone. There was absolutely no denying it. He fought so many during the Ultron saga, their appearance was permanently tattooed on his brain.

As he dodged humiliatingly slow – from his perspective – attacks and retaliated with webshots and powerful strikes, his mind ran through the odds of Ultron returning. He concluded that it wasn't possible. They shut down the transmitter he needed to jump bodies. The body they destroyed was the body he 'died' in, so to speak. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Peter was certain he was right on on this one. He attached a webline to each of the final two drones and yanked them into each other. He slammed their heads together with enough for to tear through both of them to finish them off.

The ship was just about to crash into the deck, forcing him to abandon ship. He landed a few yards from Steve, who was surrounded by six drones. "Hey, Cap, looks like you could—"

Before he could finish, Steve flung his shield into one of the drones in front of him, which carved a chunk out of its head before ricocheting into the one next to it. Steve ripped the head of the drone coming up from behind him and nimbly kicked another one away, caving its chest in. The shield carved through the fifth one and returned to his hand just as he hip tossed the final one to the ground. The drone was decapitated.

"—use some help."

Wolverine's psychotic laughter could be heard before the gunship he was riding in crashed into the helicarrier and exploded.

"That dude scares me," Peter admitted. A ghost of a smile appeared on Steve's lips. The rest of the Ultron drones were mopped up by the agents in short order. With their air support gone, the drones weren't much of a threat. "Someone got a hold of the rest of Ultron's army."

Steve grimaced, as did Thor when he landed nearby. "Aye. It has been long since we did battle with these soulless automatons. You do not think that—"

"I hope not, Thor," Steve said. He almost said more, but witnessed Logan climbing out of the wreckage of his gunship.

Unsurprisingly, he wasn't injured. Quite the contrary; even his clothes weren't too badly damage, other than his shirt being shredded and singed. He tore it off and ripped out the piece of metal sticking out of his side. The wound was healed before the shard hit the ground. "What're you girls lookin' at?"

 _=Guys, this is Hill. I'm on the main bridge, but I'm not sure how long I'll last. Get here ASAP. Hill, out.=_

"You heard the woman, fellas. Let's move!"

The helicarrier was teeming with Ultron drones. Steve, Logan, Peter, and Thor carved their way through the seemingly endless horde of mechanical fodder. The biggest question was where they came from. They were certain when Ultron was defeated two years ago, all of his drones had been melted down and destroyed. It was very unlikely that they rebuilt themselves. _Someone_ had to. The question was who.

There was time to figure that out later. Their main and only concern was saving the agents aboard the helicarrier and getting to Hill before she and whoever was with her were overwhelmed.

The outer path leading from the upper deck to where they currently were was littered with scrap. One thing they could say for certain, whoever sent the drones didn't bother with increasing their structural stability like Ultron did when he coated them with vibranium. "Not that I'm complaining," Peter added when he made note of that very thing.

"Whoever's responsible for this has a lot of explaining to do," Steve agreed.

"Aye. Many lives could have been lost, and the battle is not yet won still."

The way inside the helicarrier and to where Hill was was just up ahead. Once they met with her, they could finally start to get to the bottom of this sudden attack. Unfortunately, there was an obstacle in their path.

Mac Gargan, otherwise known as Scorpion.

Dressed in a dark green battle armor with a long, mechanical tail capable of firing green acid from the tip. He was a longtime enemy of Spider-Man's, and had managed to give him trouble. With that tail and his enhanced physicality, he wasn't to be underestimated, even if he was considered a mid-tier villain.

"Well, well, well. I was hoping to catch someone being a hero," he taunted with a cackle. "Looks like I hit the jackpot."

"Ah, jeez, you," Peter groaned. "Not even five minutes in and they're already scraping the bottom of the barrel."

"Talk all ya want, insect. But, you won't be talking when you find out what the Masters of Evil have in store for ya!"

The Masters of Evil? They all knew that Zemo was still suffering his eternal punishment, handed down to him by Odin himself. There was no way the Masters would have been in a position to orchestrate an attack on the helicarrier, much less anything else of note. Their ranks were mostly comprised of small fry villains once the originals all either disappeared in the wind, died, or were imprisoned. "What do you mean, villain?" Thor demanded. "Baron Zemo is still imprisoned."

"That's the best part. We're led by the man himself, Dr. Doom."

The lower tier villains that comprised the Masters' numbers may not have been able to organize an attack that included a legion of rebuilt Ultron drones, but Doom could. Easily. It had to have been what he was doing all this time. Waiting. Watching. Patiently awaiting the right time to strike. Not when the world was still vulnerable, like it was after the mutant/human war and the Kree invasion, but rather when it was complacent. Such a simple, yet deceptively brilliant strategy. That was why there hadn't been any kind of major disturbance in the year since the invasion. All the biggest players were being collected by Doom.

There was no telling who else he managed to gather under his employ. "What does Doom have planned?" Steve asked.

"Hehe. If you only knew. 'Cause Doom's got a plan that'll shake the heavens!"

"We won't let that happen. We're going to stop you, one way or another."

"You wanna get tough, punk? Good, 'cause so do I." He leaped toward them. His tail arced upward and sprayed a torrent of acid, forcing them to scatter or risk serious injury. When he landed, the tail whipped out and swept Steve's legs from under him, then wrapped around him and flung him into and oncoming Logan.

Scorpion was very low on the totem pole of supervillains. Peter was more than capable of handling him by himself. Adding in the likes of Thor just wasn't fair. Thor routinely walked on the surface of the sun to meditate, so an acid blast to the chest did little more than irritate him. "Pitiful fool," he taunted as he batted his tail aside and flick him in the forehead lightly.

Gargan went flying like he was shot out of a cannon and crashed through the steel door leading the the main deck.

"Well, that was a waste of time," Peter shrugged.

"Indeed. Come. Lady Hill awaits us."


	2. Like Father, Like Daughter

_**Like Father, Like Daughter**_

 **Helicarrier Delta**

The four waited until SHIELD agents arrived to restrain Scorpion and drag his unconscious body away, then stepped inside the door he so helpfully opened for them. There, they found Maria Hill and another agent lifting a fallen steel beam off of a third agent. Once free, she checked his pulse. "Take him to the sickbay." The agent nodded and hefted her fallen comrade on her shoulders and quickly trudged off.

"Commander Hill," Steve greeted with a sharp nod.

Hill nodded in return. "Thanks for responding to my SOS so quickly."

"The hell's going on around here, Hill?" Logan asked.

"In short, The Masters of Evil are back, and they're led by Victor von Doom."

"Yeah, we know," Peter confirmed. "Scorps was bragging about it before we sent him to dreamland. So, any idea what old buckethead wants the helicarrier for?"

"Don't know," Hill answered with a shrug. "And it's not important. All you need to know is that he needs to be stopped."

That much was obvious, so there was no point in wasting time saying it. Given how quickly she dismissed it rather, she must have been hiding something. Then again, this was SHIELD; when _weren't_ they hiding something? Steve narrowed his eyes. "Doom doesn't make a move for no reason. There's _something_ here that he wants. If we knew what, then—"

"I told you, it's not important," she said firmly.

A tense stare-down ensued. Steve knew that Hill knew a lot more than she was letting on, but he also knew that there was next to no chance that she was going to let anything spill without Coulson's approval.

The face-off was broken up by a chirp from Hill's comm link. _=Commander Hill, the Masters of Evil are attacking the stabilizing engines. There are too many for me to stop alone.=_

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "May, _do not_ engage the enemy. I'm sending in backup pronto. Team, find May and give her some back up."

The previous tense moment was forgotten. There was more work to do. "Yes, ma'am!" Steve led the others through the doorway on the opposite side of the command deck.

"Jeez, Cap. What was that all about?"

He regarded Peter briefly before shaking his head. "Not sure. SHIELD seems to be up to something."

"Ain't no surprise there," Logan grunted. "These clowns are always messin' with stuff they ain't got any business messin' with."

Logan was right about that. If there was one thing that Steve noticed that had unfortunately carried over from Fury's SHIELD into Coulson's, it was that they had their fingers around every forbidden fruit there was. He trusted Coulson a lot more than he did Nick – as painful as it was to admit – but even Coulson deserved a little bit of mistrust. Or, at least suspicion that he wasn't nearly as forthcoming during the WSC meetings as Steve would have liked.

"Hold it." Logan sniffed twice and growled. "I smell May and smoke up ahead. And doombots."

Where Victor von Doom was involved, there were likely to be doombots. A lot of them. May was good – very good – but she wasn't strong or tough enough to handle the horde of mechanical nuisances Doom kept in his arsenal. At least, not for very long.

The area up ahead looked like it had been hit by a missile. The floors were blackened, the equipment and machinery nearby had been reduced to charred scrap, and the lights were dimmed almost to the point of going out completely.

Through the near darkness and pitch black smoke, Thor saw May lying on the ground. As he got closer, he noticed she was bleeding badly and wasn't moving. "Lady Hill, I have located Agent May, but she is badly wounded." He gently scooped her up in his arms and turned to take her back to Hill. "I shall return shortly."

Steve nodded and turned to penetrate the curtain of smoke. Peter hadn't said anything about his spider sense so far, so they must have been in the clear.

He should have known better than to presume anything when it came to Dr. Doom. A gaggle of doombots leaped out at them from two adjacent hallways. Unlike the Ultron drones, these had been enhanced to be much stronger and more durable. They tossed Steve and Logan around and overwhelmed Peter by attacking him from all sides.

There was little surprise that these doombots were stronger than their predecessors. Doom had months to prepare for this moment. Besides potentially gathering up the world's most notorious and dangerous supervillains, he had to bolster his own mechanical army.

Steve picked himself up and flung his shield at the nearest doombot. It nimbly dodged and charged him. It took the full extent of his super-solder serum enhanced speed to parry and dodge its onslaught. Luckily, it didn't notice his shield returning on the rebound until it caved its skull in.

No matter how stronger or fast they were, they were still no match for razor-sharp adamantium claws. With unmatched ferocity, Logan slashed and gutted any robotic menace that was within his reach. "Goddamn tin cans!" Within a minute, the floor was littered with silver pieces of metal and tattered green tunics.

Peter smashed the last few together in quick order. The final one fell when his fist slammed though its chest. "Phew."

"Don't get comfortable, bub. I'm smellin' more of these shits."

"Oh, come on."

"Let's keep moving. There's no time to waste." Steve dashed down the hall, nimbly avoiding the fallen doombots. If even one of those stabilizing engines were taken out, there was no way the helicarrier was going to be able to maintain flight. And unlike the original helicarrier, there would be no way for them to restart it manually. These engines were constructed with arc reactor technology. They were going to need Reed or Tony to come a repair it, and there was no guarantee that they would get there in time.

Then again, there was always Thor's immense strength to keep it afloat, or even safely carry it to the ground below. Steve didn't want it to come to that.

The doombots bad been enhanced in a variety of ways. Enhanced speed and quickness, enhanced strength, enhanced durability, immunity to energy attacks – as evidenced by the laser weaponry wielded by SHIELD agents having no effect at all – and even an automated repair system. Doom was one of the smartest men on the planet. Some said he was second only to Mr. Fantastic; others – mostly himself – said he was outright the smartest. Either way, he was a genius tactician and strategist. He knew that supervillains wouldn't be enough; not with the likes of Thor and the other Avengers lining up to stop them. And the doombots at their usual level would have served as little more than a speed bump.

Steve didn't know how he did it, but that didn't matter. What did, all that did, was that they save the helicarrier and those on it.

The trio moved quickly through the halls. Peter and Logan did the bulk of the damage against the doombots, while Steve protected the agents. Many of them somehow managed to get locked in their own quarters. Were he a lesser man, he would have poked a little fun at that humiliating predicament. He didn't, to their relief.

"Watch out, Cap. I saw Crossbones here a little earlier. He and his little bitch girlfriend were the ones who locked us in our rooms," an agents informed him. He then grew bashful and looked away. "Could you... could you keep this between us, by the way? This is kinda embarrassing."

"Nah," Peter interjected before Steve could comprehend the request. "I already tweeted this out."

The agent sighed. "Gee. Thanks."

Crossbones was Brock Rumlow, former SHIELD agents and leader of STRIKE, a team of elite agents tasked with difficult missions that normal agents wouldn't have been able to handle. Steve, Natasha, Bucky, Bobbi, and Clint all had been members of STRIKE and had all run operations with him at one point or another. He was a no-nonsense kind of man, who did his job the way he was trained to, no more, no less.

Bucky told him that Brock was secretly a Hydra sleeper agent. Steve had to admit that he didn't see that coming, but in hindsight, that made perfect sense. The most likely candidates to be traitors were the ones who played it straight.

He didn't know who his 'girlfriend' was, but there was no reason to assume that she was anything other than bad news.

They entered an new area that was ominously devoid of doombots. Steve didn't like it. Not one bit. "Sta—" he started before Peter yanked him to the side. An instant later, a bullet streaked through the space his head had only just previously occupied.

"Damn. Missed," a woman said with a tsk.

Crossbones and his mysterious female companion were on the floor just below them. Crossbones was clad in black tactical gear, with a leather coat over it and a black mask with a white skull emblazoned on the front. The redheaded woman beside him was wearing a red top, black pants, and long red boots. On her belt was a Hydra buckle.

They were both carrying large assault rifles and handguns of various calibers.

"Rumlow."

"So, you remember me, Rogers? How sweet."

"Give it up, son. You're on the wrong side." He started down the stairs, but stopped once he noticed they weren't making any moves, to either escape or confront him. "From a Hydra sleeper agent to Doom's lackey. Quite a fall from grace, Rumlow."

Rumlow breathed out a chuckle. "I go where the money is. Doom's paying me a lot to bring this boat down, and that's what we're about to do."

"If you wanna try and stop us, boy scout, go ahead," the woman said with a sneer. "You'll die trying, though."

"Not today, lady!" Steve leaped down and ran toward. Before he could get to them, a group of doombots leaped out and jumped on him.

"Way to walk into a trap, dickwad!" The woman and Crossbones ran into the next area, with a pair of doombots blocking the path behind them.

Steve was quickly overwhelmed by the ten doombots. They took his shield from him and were trying to pull him apart limb from limb when Peter and Logan arrived to back him up. From then, it was the same as before. Logan mopped up most of them, and Peter finished off the rest in short order.

"Crossbones, huh?" Logan grunted as they chased after them. "Doom ain't playin' around."

"Yeah. Rumlow doesn't come cheap. Whoever that woman is, I doubt she does either." There was something about her that seemed eerily familiar. The smile. That sinister, malevolent smile that sent a cold chill down his spine. She had seen if before, but he couldn't quite place where. "Hill, you there?"

It was a moment before she answered. _=I'm here, Cap. How's it going?=_

"It's going. We just ran into Crossbones and an unknown female. Any idea who she is?"

 _=Give me a second.=_

While she was undoubtedly collaborating with any available agents on a face trace of the mystery woman, the trio quickly ran down a long flight of stairs to the lower level. They were looking ahead instead of at the steps. Just before they reached the final step, Peter yelled, "Watch out!" and yanked Logan and Steve back with a pair of weblines. "Laser trip mine."

Sure enough, there was a nearly unnoticeable red laser hovering just above the bottom step. If they tripped it, the mine would have detonated. While they wouldn't have been killed, Steve would have been badly injured. "Thanks."

Logan sliced it apart, letting them move on safely.

= _Got a hit, Cap. Not much, but we do have an alias: Sin. New to the international terrorism scene. She seems to like hanging around the Serpent Society and whatever's left of Hydra.=_

It never failed. Steve knew that the Serpent Society was Viper's personal hit squad; a group of assassins that took on the names of different snakes. Their skills corresponded with whatever name they chose. "Sin, huh? Never heard of her, but that's about to change. Any powers that you know of?"

= _Unless using a shitload of guns and explosives counts, no.=_

That was a relief. Without Thor, they were going to be at a disadvantage if Peter couldn't pick up the slack. "Got it. We'll check back in once they've been apprehended."

Crossbones and Sin were leading them right into a trap. Every time they entered a new area, they made sure Steve and the others were able to see where they were headed next so they could keep up. Every time they entered a new area, a horde of doombots jumped in from out of nowhere to try and tear them limb from limb.

"Man, this is getting old fast," Peter commented.

"I'll agree to that." He was cautious the further the duo led them through the helicarrier. That Sin woman sent chills up his spine and made him nervous. There was something about her that he didn't like, and it just wasn't that she was Hydra. Though, that played a big role in it.

Finally, they were led outside, where they found Sin fiddling with a railgun console, while Crossbones was aiming his assault rifle at them. "End of the line, boys. As soon as my babe unlocks this gun, it's bye-bye helicarrier."

"Why?" Steve demanded. "What does Doom have to gain from destroying this helicarrier and killing thousands of people?!"

Rumlow chuckled, then outright laughed heartily. "Still a naive idiot, ain't ya, Cap? It's all about sending a message. That the Masters of Evil are still a force to be reckoned with. With Doom at the lead, there's no one who can stop us!"

Steve couldn't help but chuckle. "I've heard all that before, from the last guy in charge. Haven't heard from him in a while, have we?" He grew serious and gripped the rail separating them from a ten foot drop. "It stops now, Rumlow."

"What're you gonna do, boy scout? Ship me off to Ryker's? Ha! I'll be out in a week."

To that, Steve smirked and drew his handgun. "You don't know me as well as you think you do, son." He jumped onto the rail and leaped off the balcony they were standing on. While in midair, he opened fire. Not on Rumlow or Sin, but the console Sin was working on. The screen cracked and went black, rendering it and the still locked railgun useless.

"Shit!" Sin growled and unloaded a clip at Steve. The bullets were blocked by his shield, but that didn't deter her. "Daddy was right about you, asshole."

"Your father?" Before she could answer, he charged at her, shield raised to block any oncoming bullets.

"You don't know, do you?" A sinister smile crawled across her ruby red lips. "Name's Cynthia. Cynithia _Schmidt."_

His eyes grew to saucers as he skidded to a halt. "Sch-Schmidt. As in—"

"Johann Schmidt. That's right. The Red Skull is my father."

"Impossible!" He knew for a fact that the Red Skull was dead. He saw it with his own two eyes. The Nazi madman was sucked away into some kind of portal generated by the space gem. That was over sixty years ago, so there was no way he was still alive. And even if he was, there was no way he could have sired a child that was living on Earth. It just wasn't possible.

He was in a stupor, so he didn't see her sprinting toward him until her foot connected with his chin, sending him stumbling to the ground. "Says the guy stuck in an ice-cube for sixty years."

He wiped the blood from his lip and successfully parried her next attacks. "How?" he asked as he grabbed her by the arms and flung her into the railgun. "How did it happen?"

She groaned, but quickly rose to her feet. "Oh, you know, when a man and a woman love each other very much, he sticks his—" She was cut off by him backhanding her across the face. Her head whipped around, and she fell to the ground. Blood accumulated on the corner of her mouth and dripped down to her chin. "You can't hit me! I'm a girl!"

"All I see is a bastard child sired by a Nazi piece of shit."

If he was expecting her to get angry, he was disappointed by her amused grin. "You kiss your mother with that mouth?" She threw what looked like a button at him.

Fearing the worst, he blocked it with his shield. It turned out that was the worst thing he could have done. Electricity jumped from the miniature taser and danced around him. His muscles locked up. He was a statue and in immense pain. He couldn't even scream out, his jaw muscles were locked shut.

"Cap!" Peter left Logan to deal with Crossbones alone and sprinted to give Steve some much needed supported. He ran as fast as he could, but Sin was ready from the moment he cried out.

She couldn't even manage to take so much as one step back before he was almost on top of her, but then, she didn't need to. All she had to do was press the button on the device in her hand.

Peter's spider sense blared, making him stop in his tracks and step back. It was too late. Once she pressed the button, the device unleashed a deafening, continuous sonic blast. Peter and Logan screamed out and fell to their knees, clutching their heads tightly.

Sin and Rumlow already had a set of audio blockers in their ears, so they were immune. "Too fucking easy," she sneered as she picked up her handgun and shot at Peter three times. To her shock and consternation, his hand blurred on its own and batted the three bullets away. She tried to shoot again when Logan roared and lunged at her.

His claws sunk into her stomach and erupted out of her back.

"CYNTHIA!"

Sin gurgled softly and fell to the floor with a soft thud. Blood bubbled out of the six wounds and coalesced into one pool under her.

Rumlow unloaded his assault rifle into Logan, but the bullets just bounced harmlessly off his adamantium skeleton. "Bastard!" With no other recourse, he had to try and escape. But, he couldn't leave with her. He tried to toss a flashbang on the ground to give himself a few seconds to get away, but Logan sliced his arm off before he could get the grenade free from his flack jacket. "AAAAGGGHHH!"

"End of the line, boy," he gritted out. Three claws sunk into Rumlow's skull, killing him instantly.

His lifeless body collapsed to the ground limply like a marionette with its strings cut.

With his last bit of strength, Logan smashed the sonic emitter and removed the taser. Steve collapsed in his arms, sending them both stumbling to the ground. He managed to push him off of him.

Steve had passed out from the pain some time ago. Peter was still on his knees, but otherwise wasn't moving. Logan was deaf in both ears, and his equilibrium was off, but he was none the worse for wear. "Ain't this a bitch."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I'll do a chapter or two in **Untold Stories** to show how Sin came to be. _


	3. Gravity Falls

_**A/N:** Sorry for missing last week. I was really tired from work last week, plus couldn't get the ending to this chapter right. I got it now, so here it is._

* * *

 _ **Gravity Falls**_

 **Helicarrier Delta**

SHIELD agents filed out from the interior with a stretcher and a body bag to collect Sin and Crossbones. They only needed the body bag. A few moments after Rumlow was killed, Sin disappeared in a green burst of light.

"I've seen that before," Steve said with a heavy sigh. "Amora." Thor told them months ago that she and Loki somehow managed to escape from prison. Their guard, Skruge the Executioner, and Amora's sister, Lorelei, vanished with them. The four of them hadn't been seen since. Loki being on the loose was bad enough. Amora being with him was even worse. And he was sure that whoever Skurge and Lorelei were, they were bad news, as well.

"Thor hasn't been able to find them, no matter where he's looked. They must have been using magic to hide themselves until now." He sighed.

"It gets better," Daisy said as she quickly walked down the steps to meet them. "Another villain was seen fucking around with our nukes. Might want to go handle them."

"Great." They sprinted up the steps and ran inside.

 _=Rogers, the nukes haven't been launched yet, so there's still time. I need you guys to destroy the two consoles on both ends of the missile bay. Shut 'em down in time and the nukes won't launch. Got that?=_

"Got it, Commander."

"The hell is that viking hippie at?" Logan grunted.

Now that he thought about it, Thor had been gone for a long time. Much longer than he would expect it to take to just take someone to the nearest sickbay. Unless he somehow got lost, there was no reason for him to be not there with them. "He must have run into trouble."

"Trouble that would take him _this_ long to handle?" Peter shuddered.

That was a disturbing thought. Steve didn't answer, which was all the answer he needed to give.

The nuclear missile launch bay was a massive area with ten nuclear missiles docked and ready to fire. They were much larger than the one that Tony prevented from wiping out half of Manhattan five years ago. He couldn't imagine the payload these things were carrying. "Hill, what's the payload for one of these?"

= _One could wipe out a city and then some.=_

"Jesus. What's the point?" That was more directed at their existence in general. There was no need to have missiles with that kind of destructive force. Not when they had railguns that could snipe anyone from a thousand miles away. Anything stronger than that needed the Avengers.

 _=Never mind that. I need you to stop them from launching those missiles.=_

"We're on it."

The steel walkway they were running down split into a fork, which each console they needed to destroy at the end of them. "Split up. Spider-Man, you go left. Wolverine, with me."

Any doombots or Ultron drones that were in their way were taken out in quick order. There was no time to lose. If Doom's agent launched just one of those missiles, millions of lives were going to be wiped out.

The console was a complicated piece of machinery with several buttons and levers that neither Steve nor Logan had any hope of figuring out in time to shut down the silo. Steve was about to contact Hill to have her walk him through the proper shutdown sequence when Logan popped a set of claws and stabbed the console.

"Well, that's one way to do it."

"Ain't got time to figure shit out. Come on, let's go." They sprinted at full speed back to the fork in the road.

"Spider-Man, how's it coming?"

It was a moment before Peter answered. _=All done, Cap. What's nex—=_

Before he could finish, the entire launch bay began trembling. It was as if an earthquake had gripped the entire helicarrier. But, it wasn't an earthquake; one of the missiles ignited and flew out of an opening. Smoke filled the air and choked Steve and Logan.

 _=I was just informed one of the missiles just launched,=_ Hill said, livid. = _I told you to shut down both consoles!=_

"We did. The missile launched after Spider-Man shut his console down," Steve explained.

= _Goddamn it. Alright, head over to the master control room and shut it down from there. On the double.=_

Steve nodded, even if she couldn't see him. It had to have been the agent Doom sent. Quake said they were messing with the master controls, which was the only other place the missiles could be launched, to his knowledge. Which made them destroying the individual consoles a complete waste of time. "You hear that, Spider-Man?"

 _=Yeah. Something fishy is going on.=_

"I agree. Meet us at the navigation room. We'll have to stop the missile from there."

= _Got it.=_

Failing that, they were going to have to pry Thor from whatever was holding his attention and have him destroy the missile the old-fashioned way.

They reached the navigation room at the same time. They weren't alone. Unfortunately, their guest wasn't a SHIELD agent. "Well, well, well. Ain't you guys just an impressive bunch of heroes?"

It was none other than the most infamous assassin on the planet, Bullseye. He was dressed in an black suit with white gloves and boots. There were two stripes that went from his shoulders and circled down to the center of his chest and back. On his mask, there was a white bullseye.

"Bullseye," Logan spat in disgust, "thought I smelled a rat. Fuck outta the way. We got a nuke to stop."

Bullseye grinned and twirled what looked like an ice pick around his fingers. "Oh, I know, tiny. I'm the one who launched it. But, too bad I have the only keycard to the navigational computer."

There was no point in asking why. Bullseye was a gun for hire who gave no cares about who he killed or why. If Doom told him to launch a nuclear missile into a populated city and kill everyone, he was going to do it no questions asked as long as the check cleared. And if it was cut by the monarch of Latveria, the check was going to clear. "Give us that keycard," Steve said dangerously. "Or else."

He chuckled. "I choose... or else!" In a flash, the ice pick was flying through the air toward Steve's eye.

He barely managed to get his shield up to block the deadly tool.

Logan and Peter flew into action, coming at him from both sides.

Bullseye rolled forward and tossed several grenades at the oncoming heroes. When they dodged and took cover, he took advantage of their predictable movements and tossed several playing cards made out of adamantium. Three found their way into Logan's sternum, between his rib-cage and through his lungs.

Peter managed to nimbly dodge the playing cards. He responded by firing several web balls that caught Bullseye in the chest.

As he stumbled back, he tossed a pair of grenades, one directly behind the other. Since they were lined up so perfectly, Peter could only see the one, so when he dodged the one in front, he didn't notice the second until it was almost too late. The distraction caused by the second grenade exploding unexpectedly was all Bullseye needed to get back to his feet and keep Steve and Logan at bay a bit longer.

Doombots and Ultron drones poured in from the navigation room to give him so much needed support. They fanned out, forming a wall of sorts around the acclaimed assassin to keep the heroes at bay while he got his wits about him.

The robots fired assorted blasts to keep Steve and Peter busy, so Bullseye could face Logan alone.

A pair of knives sliced through the air with a flick of his wrists. Logan tried to slice through them, but didn't realize until it was too late that they were exploding knives. The first small, but powerful explosion stunned him, and the second knocked him to the floor.

Logan grunt and snarled, but couldn't get out of the way of the adamantium playing cards that were hurtling towards him. They sliced through his throat, wrists, and aortic artery. Blood pooled under him, but he was only fazed for a brief moment. "Gonna have to try a little harder than that, punk." He rose to his feet, claws extended.

By that point, Steve and Peter had already carved through the robots and were circling around Bullseye to keep him hemmed in. Then, Peter streaked forward, a red-and-blue blur that Bullseye couldn't even hope to track, let alone react into in time.

Spider-Man was more known for his speed and breathtaking agility. His strength was criminally underrated. This was a man who, when incensed that the supervillain mob boss known as the Kingpin escaped his clutches, destroyed an entire ten story building with his bare hands. The building was, of course, condemned and scheduled for demolition, anyway.

His fist connected with Bullseye's ribcage, just a mere tap to his relation. That 'tap' sent the villain flying back into Steve's shield, which was thrusting just in time to catch him flush in the back of the head. A boot to the face from Logan rendered him unconscious.

Steve wasted no time in fishing for and retrieving the keycard needed to access the navigational computer. He handed it to Peter, who hastily inserted it into one of the computer terminals and started typing. His hands flew over the keyboard faster than either of his teammates could follow. "There, done."

Precious seconds ticked away one by one, as if time itself was stalling itself to give the commands time to reach their highly mobile target.

 _=Just been informed the nuke's been safely detonated in the upper atmosphere. Good work, guys,=_ Hill said.

They sighed in relief. "Thank God." All that was left was for them to find Thor and go home. "Is that all?"

 _=Not even close. Remember that dragon that attacked Manhattan four years ago? He's back and he's helping Graviton try and sink this boat. Thor's been holding them off, but he can't do it alone.=_

That certainly explained where he had been all this time. And, he had apparently been doing a pretty good job, since they didn't feel so much as a jostle the entire time they had been separated. "On it."

Hearing Graviton's name again sent a chill down Steve's spine. He remembered when he very nearly sent Los Angeles into the upper atmosphere the day he managed to escape from the Big House. The West Coast Avengers managed to stop him, but he got away before they could find him. All this time, he had been laying low until the heat blew over. During that time, Doom must have gotten a hold of him.

He was one of the most powerful villains on the planet, if not _the_ most powerful outright. His power to control gravity rivaled and even surpassed Magneto's control over magnetism. However, the one difference between the two was that Magneto was much more creative with his abilities that Graviton.

Even still, he was highly dangerous, an omega level threat.

"Man, what the heck can _we_ do to someone like Graviton?" Peter asked, clearly referring to the three of them.

"Nothing. We'll let Thor handle him. Our job is to keep that dragon off his back," Steve answered.

"Man, what the heck can _we_ do to a dragon?"

A pertinent question if there ever was one. None of them had the required strength to make an impact against a dragon, much less injure it. Then again, they didn't have to. The helicarrier had all the punch they needed.

They closer the got to outside, the louder the sounds of combat were. Lightning and fierce winds raged outside like a legendary hurricane, more powerful than any in recorded history. Yet, as a testament to Thor's control, the helicarrier wasn't threatened.

They burst outside and saw their teammate in a hellacious battle against the Lord of the Fundamental Forces. Massive lightning bolts arced down from the pitch black clouds overhead. They actually curved around Graviton and careened into the ground far below them.

Coming up behind Thor was the massive green dragon they faced so many years ago. It looked exactly the same as it did back then. The same green scales, massive wings, and the same razor sharp claws. One of its hands reached out to grab the godly Avenger.

Steve wasted no time and sprinted as fast as he could for the railgun at the edge of the deck. It had already been unlocked, so he stepped onto the platform and manned the controls. The entire platform turned in conjunction with the controls. He took aim, and fired a volley of powerful ion blasts that hit the dragon directly in the chest.

The massive beast fell out of the sky just before he could reach Thor. He turned his attention to Graviton. "Cap, look out!"

Peter's warning came just in time. Steve hopped off the platform and sprinted back just before the dragon landed with a massive crash that shook the helicarrier. Even with the advanced warning, the sheer size of the beast colliding with the deck created a shockwave that knocked Steve off his feet.

"MORTALS," the great beast spoke clearly. His voice boomed and echoed. "YOU ARE FOOLISH TO TRIFLE WITH ME! NONE CAN WITHSTAND THE MIGHT OF FIN FANG FOOM!"

Steve had seen a lot of things in his day, but a talking dragon still somehow registered as weird on his radar.

"YOU FOOLS WILL LEARN THAT THE MASTERS OF EVIL ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH!" He opened his massive maw and unleashed a fireball that almost scorched all three of them, if they hadn't jumped out of the way in time. In its wake was a massive scorch mark and melted metal.

"He's getting away!" Foom was flying away, his massive wings carrying him further and further away with each flap.

"Let him go. We can't catch up to him in time anyway."

Meanwhile, Thor stole a quick glance at the helicarrier and noticed his friends had finally arrived and Fin Fang Foom had seemingly retreated. That was good. Even if he hadn't, Thor had confidence that his friends were more than capable of keeping him busy until he had defeated Graviton.

Even with Thor vast strength and power, Graviton was a worthy opponent. With his ability to control gravitational forces and bend them to his will, the thunder god needed to be wary and keep his wits about him. Fortunately, there was little that could be done to him, as he could survive the pull of a black hole with only some difficulty. The same, however, could not be said of anyone else on Midgard. Knowing that, this battle needed to end with all haste.

"Hear me, villain," he shouted across the distance between him and Graviton, "your plot ends now! So speaks Thor, son of Odin!"

Graviton said nothing. Instead, his hand thrust outward, unleashing a wave of gravitational energy that warped the very air it cut through.

Thor dodged it easily. Before he could advance, he noticed out of the corner of his eye the wave's true target – the helicarrier! One hit and irreparable damage could have been inflicted; not to mention his allies could have been killed.

With haste, Thor flew ahead of the blast and spun his hammer out in front of him. When struck by the blast, Mjølnir absorbed the energy. Without another moment wasted, Thor closed the gap between himself and Graviton and grabbed him by the throat. Lightning streaked down from the clouds above and crashed into Graviton, sending him hurtling down the ground below.

Getting him away from the helicarrier was what Thor had been trying to do for almost twenty minutes. Every time he got close to do so, Fin Fang Foom would appear behind him and steal just a portion of his attention away. The great Makluan posed no threat to the thunder god, but he was enough of a distraction.

Thor found Graviton pulling himself up from the massive crater his crash landing created. He had to be wary and not waste any time. His opponent was one of the most powerful beings on Midgard. As such, there was no time for boasting or attempts at swaying him toward surrender. There would be no capitulation, that he knew.

Mjølnir flew from his hand at speeds exceeding what the human eye could follow. This included Graviton's, and thus he was unable to stop it until it struck him in the chest. The villain slid back hundreds of feet before coming to a stop. Instead of falling to the ground, the enchanted mallet remained airborne, floating on the nothingness of gravity.

Thor realized his critical folly a moment too late. With a mere gesture, he was sent flying into the air, gravity's hold on him having been severed. It was as if he was floating in the reaches of outer space. His was almost ten miles up when another gesture increased gravity's hold on him a thousandfold. Like a stone in a pond, he sunk, unable to stop himself in time.

He landed with a terrible crash, and kept going. The earth gave way to his immense weight. He was in no danger; his immense strength and durability was of legend on Asgard, second only to his father. A thousand times Earth's gravity pushing down on him was nothing compared to what he had faced in the past. Even still, he dared not underestimate Graviton, lest he test the fullest extent of his divine strength.

Instead, Thor opted to take a page from his wicked step-brother's book and outsmart his opponent. With him as trapped as he was, he knew that he was in a vulnerable position. As such, as long as he remained still, he might have left, thinking that Thor no longer posed a threat to him.

When exactly that transpired, Thor smirked. He dared not move, however; he wasn't sure if Graviton felt some kind of connection with the planet's gravitational forces, especially those of his own creation. Instead, he summoned his hammer to him. Mjølnir effortlessly passed through the barrier of dense gravitational force used to keep it separate from Thor and landed in his hand.

Hammer in hand, he took a moment to decide how he wanted to end this battle. Killing Graviton was an option; a good one, in fact. Lives were in danger every moment he drew breath; he was too dangerous to be left alive. Also, there was the matter that the prison he had been held in prior could have been compromised in the future, thus unleashing his vast power and vengeance on the world again.

However, he was an Avenger. Despite the frequency with which is occurred, they did not kill if they could help it. As in, if there were other options, they should be taken first. And he had just the option. One of Mjølnir's many abilities was to open gateways to other worlds or even other dimensions. It was one of the ways he transported from Asgard to Midgard and vice verse without constantly pestering Heimdall about opening the Bifrost Bridge. Thor knew of many empty planets with atmosphere's sufficient for Graviton to survive on his own.

With that in mind, he rose out of the crater his own greatly enhanced weight formed and chased after him. "Graviton! It ends now!" he roared as he spun his hammer.

The villain was shocked to see that Thor was able to escape his prison. "Bastard. I'll end you for good." He didn't notice the blue gateway opening behind him until it was too late. "What?!"

"Away with you!" A massive thermal energy blast struck him, pushing him through the portal that led to a planet many hundreds of light years away. It closed quickly, trapping him on that planet for, with hope, the rest of his life. A harsh punishment, certainly, but such was the consequence those who threatened Midgard faced.

Thor sighed and quickly returned to the helicarrier. He arrived in time to find Foom under siege by one of the helicarrier's mechanical catapults. The great beast was struck multiple times until he fell from the sky. He took that chance to open another portal to transport the dragon back to his homeworld, Maklu IV.

When it closed, the battle came to a decisive conclusion.

"Well done, my friends," he commended when he landed on the deck before them. "Not many mortals can defy the might of a Makluan."

Peter let out a tired sigh and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, well, let's hope I never see another lizard again. Did you know they can breathe fire? Because he could breathe fire."

"Indeed, I am aware." He very nearly lost his cape and his hair in a ball of flame.

 _=Helicarrier's all clear, boys. Nice job,=_ Hill radioed in. _=Coulson just called in. He says for you to meet him at Avengers Tower for your next assignment.=_

"Next assignment?" Steve questioned. "The helicarrier wasn't Doom's only target?"

 _=It's Doom. He never puts his eggs in one basket.=_

Despite saving the helicarrier and saving millions of lives, their work was not yet done. They didn't dream of wondering what was next. When it came to Doctor Doom, there was no limit to the depths he was willing to sink to in order to achieve his goals.

* * *

 _ **A/N:** I'll be going over that Graviton in LA incident in **Untold Stories.**_


	4. Assembling the Task Force

_**Assembling the Task Force**_

 **Castle Doom, Latveria**

 **9:45 PM**

Scorpion and Bullseye had been apprehended by SHIELD authorities. Graviton and Fin Fang Foom had been teleported to other galaxies light years away. Crossbones was dead. The helicarrier was not only still operational, but had suffered little more damage than it had during the initial attack by his doombots and Ultron's drones. To a lesser man, this would have been see as a failure. And rightfully so; Victor von Doom sent his agents to that SHIELD base to disable it, if not outright destroy it. Failure to do so should have earned his wrath. And yet, Doom did not see this as a complete failure.

No, there was a silver lining to be found.

If he was completely honest, the attack on the helicarrier was nothing more than an elaborate distraction. The true motive behind his assault was to find the location of a classified, top-secret SHIELD facility, the Hub. Rebuilt to be a mobile base, rather than stationary – as its predecessor had been – the new and improved Hub was the location where SHIELD conducted all of its most secretive experiments. Banner's work on gamma radiation and Pym's work on Pym Particles were just two. A third, and the one that piqued Doom's interest, was the revamped super soldier project.

Developed by Dr. Emil Erskine in 1940, the super soldier serum had led to the creation of history's most iconic beings. Not the least of which being the likes of the Red Skull, Captain America, the Winter Soldier, and even the Hulk and Abomination.

When Doom discovered that SHIELD had made a breakthrough in recreating it, he knew that he could make use for it. As such, he sent another team to the Hub as soon as Sin sent him its coordinates. That was the only reason he allowed her to be brought back to Castle Doom, and not left to die as her lover had. A shame, to save the progeny of such a waste of scientific talent as the short-sighted Red Skull.

* * *

 **Avengers Tower – Manhattan, New York**

When Clint Barton arrived at the Avengers Tower, it marked two years since he had stepped foot in the building. Ever since the New Avengers moved out and into the Avengers Mansion two years ago, the skyscraper had become strictly a business facility, Stark Industries' New York headquarters. Most Avengers functions were held at one of the three bases, so there was little to no reason to ever go there, except for nostalgia.

It hadn't changed much, if at all. The interior, especially the bottom twenty floors, were a little warmer in feeling. The colors of the walls and carpet were a little softer, to encourage a less stressful work environment, without a doubt. The walls were still occupied by the paintings Steve painted and gave to Pepper. Many were just generic flowers or floral landscapes that he saw during one of their many missions over the years. A few, however, were a bit more personal. One of her and Tony in a loving embrace hung on the wall behind her desk. Another of her, Jane, Darcy, and Natasha sharing a drink during the old Stark Tower days was hanging in the break-room on the tenth floor. Other paintings of himself and other heroes were littered throughout the building.

Coulson called him a few hours ago and told him to meet him at Avengers Tower. That request, plus the graveness in his voice, gave insight into how dire the situation had become. Bobbi did a little digging and found out that the helicarrier had been attacked by doombots, Ultron drones, and a handful of supervillains. It was insanity. Ultron was dead. Clint watched him 'die' with his own two eyes. Then again, he himself also died, and there he was, walking inside Avengers Tower. Anything was possible nowadays, it seemed.

Coulson told him to choose two members of his team to go with him. His first choice was Monica. If Doom was involved, they were going to need as many heavy hitters as possible, and few hit as hard as Spectrum. Clint was about to choose Jen with the same line of reasoning, but Bobbi insisted on going with him. He was about to ask why when he thought better of it. Besides, they were going to need at least one of their strongest members back in LA in case someone tried to take advantage of their numbers being halved.

"So, what do you think's gonna happen?" Monica asked.

A valid question. Clint wasn't sure what to expect; about either this meeting with Coulson, or Doom. "Not sure. I got an arrow with Doom's name on it, though." He literally had an adamantium-tipped arrow the Doctor Doom's name on it. While rummaging for that arrow, he found the last anti-metal arrow he forgot to use against Ultron. "And I still need to put this anti-metal arrow through Ultron's throat."

Bobbi smiled.

Doom was dangerous, though. Possibly the most dangerous villain on the planet. No; Doom transcended the typical – or even atypical – villain archetype. He was the most dangerous _man_ on the planet. His genius and ambition were a terribly effective combination. There was nothing he couldn't do, and nothing he wouldn't do to achieve what he wanted to achieve. Apparently, he had been spending the last several years in Hell, battling the devil for the soul of his mother after she had been killed.

The fact that he was back – with his mother, apparently – showed how determined he was. Not many could break into Hell. Fewer could return alive. Only one returned with something the devil had in his possession, with no fear of reprisal. It was amazing. If only he put those qualities to better use than he did, he could truly change the world for the better.

The three West Coast Avengers stepped out of the elevator and into the common floor. SHIELD equipment was scattered all over the living room. There they found half a dozen SHIELD agents either talking to each other or looking at some kind of technology. Coulson and May were standing by the window, talking to one another. Clint noticed that May was bandaged up pretty heavily and that there was a crutch leaning against the window beside her. Daisy and Simmons were looking at a screen. On that screen was a replay of Thor's battle with Graviton and Fin Fang Foom. Fitz was tinkering on an Ultron drone head, probably to try and use it to find Ultron.

Coulson noticed Clint and the others walk in and ended his conversation with May to walk over to them. "Barton, glad you could make it. And you brought Morse and Rambeau, too. Good."

"Well, I figured you could use some help coordinating," Bobbi said as she looked around each station, "but looks like you have everything under control."

"Hardly," he said with a snort. "Could use some help with mission control."

"Where's Hand?" she asked with an eyebrow raise. After all, mission control was her expertise.

"Still at the Hub. That's what the next mission is about. I'm about to start briefing in ten minutes, so I'll explain it then." He glanced at his watch, and shook his head. "Check that. I'll let you know when I start."

They nodded and left to go find the others.

"Feels good being in this old place again," Monica commented.

"Yeah, like coming back home from college or something," Clint agreed.

"Must be a big deal if Hawkeye is here," he heard a woman say from the room at the end of the hall they were walking down.

They reached the doorway and stopped dead in their tracks. "Okay. This is new." It was a massive garden and sitting area. Large potted fauna were sitting in each corner, and there were more plants hanging from the ceiling. Two staircases led to platforms with more potted flowers and plants, large and very colorful. Against the far wall to their left was waterfall with an angel statue in front of it. In the center of the area was another circular platform. Clint could see Natasha sitting down behind a console of some kind. To his right was another circular platform, where Vision was standing behind a screen.

The voice belonged to Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four. She and her family were just four of close to two dozen superheroes that had been brought in to deal with Doctor Doom. Many of the Avengers and New Avengers were also there, along with the X-Men. Also, freelance heroes like Daredevil were also there.

"Whoa." Doom was a big deal, but Clint didn't think that it would take _this_ many. "Was that sarcasm I detected, Invisible Woman?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

She smiled innocently. "No, of course not. Oh, Natasha said to see her when you got here."

He smiled back and nodded. Clint wasn't the strongest guy there, but he was honored Coulson still picked him to be part of his task force. Or, maybe it was a testament to how thorough Hydra's attack two years ago was. The pickings were slim; that much no one could deny. There just weren't enough experienced heroes around for anyone to get picky. While he was sure Coulson didn't just pick names out of a hat or blindly accept help from anyone, there weren't a lot to choose from.

He jogged up the staircase to the top of the platform Natasha was sitting. "Sup, Nat? Long time no see."

"Clint." She handed him a small external hard drive. Or, at least that was what it looked like. "Give that to Vision when you talk to him."

"Sure thing." He slipped it into his pocket.

She swiveled her chair around to face him and stretched her back out. She looked tired, he noticed. "It hasn't been that long. Only a few months," she pointed out.

"Hey, a few months is a long time."

She smiled wryly, an obvious joke about his first 'lengthy' courtship with Bobbi playing on her tongue. To his relief, she didn't say it. "Doom's back. That's a thing now, apparently."

"Yeah. It sucks." To make matters worse, he had the Masters of Evil with him. Clint thought for sure that with Zemo being... wherever he was, Mandarin being underground, and Karla being... wherever she was, the Masters were a thing of the past. Not to mention Abomination was still dead, to his knowledge. Of course, Amora was on the loose, and that was a disconcerting issue. "Any of the OG Masters of Evil with him?"

"Not that I know of," she answered with a shrug. "The only one that isn't dead, missing, or in some kind of prison is Belova."

He raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"She's gone straight," she said, a ghost of a smirk appearing on her lips.

"Really?" he said with some surprise. "When's the last time you've seen her?"

"We've had a few run-ins. Nothing I couldn't handle."

She didn't answer his question as straightforwardly as he would have liked. There she went again, being unnecessarily ambiguous. He shook his head, to which she smirked. "Better get this to Vision. I'll see you around."

She nodded, and turned around to continue observing the screen.

Clint slowly walked down the steps to the ground floor where Bobbi was waiting for him. "I see Natasha is as vague as usual," she said with an annoyed moue.

"Seems like it. Old habits die hard, I suppose," he said deliberately.

She sighed. "Sorry." They walked step for step toward the Vision to give him the thing Natasha wanted to give him. "You know what I heard? I heard that she and Belova are...," she trailed off and waggled her eyebrows.

It took his brain quite a few moments to catch up. "Wait, what?"

"Yep."

"As in they're... together?"

She nodded.

"Bullshit. And I thought _you_ of all people would be above spreading rumors about people."

"It's not bullshit, and it's not a rumor. Besides, even if it was, that didn't stop your ears from perking up," she said defensively.

He shook his head. He didn't want to believe that about his friend. Not that she was a lesbian, but rather than she was a lesbian with her hated rival. Clint knew the woman had been brainwashed into hating Natasha, but shooting her in the head wasn't something he could forgive. Even if Natasha evidently had.

Though, her earlier comment about Yelena going straight took on an entirely different connotation with that in mind. But, there was no way he was believing it; not until he heard it from her mouth. Even then, he still would have been skeptical. He recalled the many, many times Natasha insisted that love was for children. Unless she changed her mind without telling him – which, he could admit, was a very real possibility – Belova just wasn't the person to indulge in romance with.

She was too untrustworthy. All spies were. Like he told Bobbi, old habits died hard.

"Good evening, Vision," Bobbi greeted when they climbed the stairs to reach the synthezoid.

" _Good evening Bobbi, Clint. It's good to see you both again."_ His eyes trailed down to the device in Clint's hand.

Clint handed it to him. "Here you go, Vizh. Tasha told me to give this to you."

" _Thank you. I will now be able to patch directly into the SHIELD database. Director Coulson has assigned me as the information officer. If there is any data or information you require for a mission, please come to me, and I will elucidate it as well as the database will allow."_

Clint didn't know what elucidate meant, but he assumed it meant that Vision would bring him up to speed. It was kind of funny that Coulson had a computer to talk to the computers for them. "Thanks, Vision. Phil said our next mission is at the Hub. Has it changed any since it was rebuilt?"

" _One moment."_ Vision paused as he patched his CPU into the SHIELD database. _"Prior to its destruction at the hands of Ultron in 2015, the Hub served as SHIELD's mission control center. Today, however, it's role has changed. Since mission control is handled directly within SHIELD's global headquarters, the Hub has now taken on the role previously occupied by the Fridge, that being the location of all of SHIELD's classified experiments. It is mobile to keep its location secret, even among top ranking SHIELD officials. Victoria Hand remains the commanding officer."_

Clint was surprised when he heard that Hand had returned to SHIELD after taking a lengthy vacation. He had undergone many undercover missions in his time, and while he never went as deep as she did, he never came out the same. In order to maintain his cover, he had to commit actions that didn't sit well with him. To that day, some of the things he had to do still haunted him. Falling in love with Madame Hydra and taking part in Hydra's scheme to eliminate the hero population in the United States had to have weighed heavily on her. Taking into account also that she wasn't trained for undercover work, and it was a surprise she decided to come back.

"Thanks, Vision," he said with a nod of his head.

" _Any time, Clint."_

Clint and Bobbi descended the stairs in time to see Coulson walk in and head for the balcony. The balcony was the same as it had been before, housing the mechanical arms that dismantled Tony's Iron Man suit as he walked inside.

Coulson checked his watch again and shook his head. "Why is he always late?"

Soon after he started complaining, the familiar sound of rocket thrusters thundering in the distance steadily got closer. A familiar red and gold blur streaked closer to the tower, only slowing down to land with a metallic thud on the balcony. The spinner platform activated, dismantling the Iron Man suit as Tony stepped toward them. "Alright, folks. I'm here, so let's get this show on the road." The first person to greet him was an unimpressed Coulson. "Director Agent."

"I told you to be here thirty minutes ago, Mr. Stark," he said rather curtly.

"Well, you know, with the time zone thing and the time difference, it's hard to coordinate from different ends of the country," Tony said apologetically. "But, I'm here now. That counts for something, right?"

Coulson shook his head. "Let's get started with briefing," he said loudly enough for every to hear. "First off, thanks for responding and coming to help out. I know there are a few of you who still don't trust SHIELD after the civil war a few years ago. Not that we deserve any trust; but at least by coming here, you realize how important this is. As for why you're here, I've been given authorized by the World Security Council to assemble a task force to combat and apprehend the Masters of Evil. They are led by Victor von Doom. His first move was attacking and pretty much disabling the helicarrier earlier tonight.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stark have graciously allowed us to make use of their tower here in New York. For the time being, this will serve as our base of operations until the helicarrier is back up and running."

"Believe me, it's no trouble at all. This place has pretty much everything you'll need. If not, I can have it delivered," Tony assured.

Coulson nodded. "As for your first mission, it's to the Hub. I received a message from Victoria Hand a few hours ago requesting that I go there so I could be briefed on the progress of the super soldier project."

"What's so strange about that?" Steve asked.

"She said that Dr. Banner would be briefing me. But, Dr. Banner is on the gamma project, _not_ the super soldier project. Hand would never make a mistake like that. Something is up, and I want four of you to go and find out what. If there is, put a stop to it."

"Think it could be a trap?" Clint wondered.

"I'm thinking so, Barton. Like I said, Hand wouldn't make a mix-up like that, which leads me to believe she must have been subtly warning me. Or, at least that's how I'm going to proceed. With Doom on the loose, you can never be too careful."

Sound reasoning. "Smart. When do we ship out?"

"As soon as possible. Talk to Wyatt Wingfoot. He'll be flying you out in one of our quinjets."

Wyatt was a friend of the Fantastic Four. He had flown them around a few times. He could be trusted. "Got it." More than likely, the Hub was under attack. It never ended. If it was, then Hand and whatever agents she had with her were in danger. He didn't know what kind of experiments or weaponry they had stocked over there, but he didn't think it was going to be enough. "I'm going," he decided.

Coulson nodded. "Pick three others and head out as soon as possible."

"Hey, Clint," Scott Lang called out as he walked toward them.

"What's up, Scott?"

"I want to go with you. Hank said he left his upgraded cybernetic helmet at the Hub last week. He doesn't want that falling into the wrong hands."

While Clint couldn't imagine what Doom could possibly do with a helmet that let him talk to bugs, that wasn't something that they could let get lost. "Got it. Your kid with you?"

Scott frowned heavily. "No, she's still with her mother. She doesn't even know what's going on, thank God."

Cassie was still obsessed about being a superhero. It was only a matter of time before she tried again. Clint made an effort to keep an eye on her to make sure she stayed out of trouble. So far, so good, but everyone knew how determined teenagers were to find trouble. "Good. Let's gear up and get out there."


	5. Ready, AIM, Fire

_**Ready, AIM, Fire I**_

 **The Hub – 10:45 PM**

The Hub, once teeming with SHIELD suits under the command of Agent Victoria Hand. Once the command center for all of SHIELD's tactical operations handed out by Directors Nick Fury and Brandon Trent. Once a smoking pile of ash after the attack by Ultron the day Hydra was defeated by loyal SHIELD agents and the New Avengers. Now, it was the top secret mobile base where all of SHIELD's highly classified experiments and projects were conducted and worked on diligently. Still under the command of Victoria Hand, who Coulson had to practically get down on his hands and knees and beg to return after she retired and found a life of peace and serenity in upstate New York.

Clint and Scott, along with Falcon and Storm, dropped down onto the roof and watched the quinjet they had been riding in ascend into the sky above them. Wyatt Wingfoot informed them that he would be nearby so they could call him when they were ready to head back to Avengers Tower.

Clint wasn't sure what to expect. Coulson was suspicious when he received Hand's message a few hours ago requesting that he come there to be debriefed by Dr. Banner on the Super Soldier project. Of course, Bruce was working on a classified gamma project, not the super soldier serum. Hand never made a mistake that blatant; which meant that she was secretly warning them. Which meant that she and every other agent on board was in danger. Time was of the essence.

It was quiet, and the top deck was barren of life. That alone indicated that something was seriously wrong. Clint had been to the Hub only once since it was rebuilt into its current state, and that was so Coulson could show him and Bobbi around in a futile bid to get them to return to SHIELD. He declined, but when he was there, he noticed that there were four drones stationed on the corners of the top deck as security. Those drones were nowhere to be found.

Next, the door leading inside was unlocked, and the keypad used to unlock it had been blasted apart. "Stay sharp," he said to the others. "Sam, send in Redwing for recon."

Sam nodded and pressed a button on his gauntlet. The next moment, a small, bird-shaped drone hovered out of a compartment on his jetpack and extended its wings. Clint opened the door, allowing the drone to fly inside quickly.

Invisibly, the drone zipped through the halls; its video feed was fed directly into a screen Sam carried on his hip, as well as a heads up display in his goggles. The halls, according to what Redwing could see, were littered with fallen SHIELD agents, as well as men and women dressed in yellow tactical gear.

AIM. There was no mistaking it. Advanced Idea Mechanics had finally made their move, two years after the fall of their bitter rivals, Hydra. "AIM," Sam uttered.

"Damn it," Clint huffed. Why wait until right then to make a move? SHIELD had regained a considerable amount of strength since Ultron's attack. The time to attack was right then, when they were weak and practically helpless, not when they were strong enough to stand on their own two feet and fight back. It didn't make any sense. "Any idea which half it is?"

AIM was still split in two: one led by Monica Rapaccini, and the other led by MODOK. MODOK's half was considerably smaller, but just as dangerous. If not more so, since they had the element of fanaticism that a lot of terrorist cells carried these days. Maybe that was why they waited until SHIELD was stronger.

"Can't tell. Looks like Rapaccini's half, but I don't know for sure," Sam answered.

Clint nodded. "Guess we'll find out." There was no point in standing around outside. Sam didn't mention any sign of Hand, alive or dead, so as far as he was concerned, she was still at large. "Let's move." He opened the door, allowing the others to enter in before him.

The interior was quiet. Far too quiet for an incursion to still be in progress. Exactly as Redwing showed, the floor was littered with bodies and bullet casings. The walls were stained with black scorch marks from energy weaponry. The air stunk of faded smoke and pungent chemicals.

Storm checked a random SHIELD agent for a pulse. She didn't find one. "It would seem that Director Coulson was right to feel suspicious," she noted.

He nodded silently in agreement. Whatever trap AIM had waiting in the wings for him had already been triggered. SHIELD did their best to counter, but the element of surprise could never be overvalued. "Stay sharp. AIM might still be around. Lang, where's that helmet of Pym's?"

"He said it was in lab 15, on the second floor," Scott answered.

There was a chance AIM had already taken it. Clint didn't know what use a helmet that could talk to bugs would be to an organization like AIM, but he wasn't going to underestimate them. Especially if there were any Pym Particle canisters lying around.

Clint drew his bow and notched an arrow as he took point. Scott and Sam were in the middle, with Storm bringing up the rear. As they progressed through the facility, the story of how the battle went unfolded. The bodies were even between both parties. Which showed that, even on the business end of a surprise attack, SHIELD still put up a good fight. A small wave of pride swelled in his chest. Even if he hadn't been an agent since '13, he still cared a great deal about the men and women who represented the same ideals that he had years ago.

"...said to find Hand. She went this way," came a voice from around the corner. Clint silently gestured for them to line against the wall. As the pair of footsteps got closer, he nodded at Storm, who nodded back. A small current of electricity danced between her fingers, almost resembling an electric fence. Two men round the corner absently, and were immediately bombarded by over five hundred volts – not enough to kill them, but more than enough to render them unconscious.

Their limp bodies flew back into the wall behind them, where they landed with a thud and slid to the floor.

"She's still alive," Clint noted. "Let's move." Quickly, but cautiously, they continued through the halls. It would only be a matter of time before the rest realized that something was wrong and sent in reinforcements.

"So, what's the deal with these AIM guys?" Scott asked.

"They're science types. All a hell of a lot smarter than I am. They want to better the world through science. Sound familiar?" Clint answered.

Scott nodded. That was Hank's life dream. The very dream he nearly gave up on months ago when he got so low, he faked his own death. Janet was able to talk him out of it, but Hank did some terrible things in the meantime. Not the least of which being killing four supervillains.

"It is such a shame," Ororo muttered with a shake of her head, "that such brilliant minds resort to acts of terrorism and evil to advance their ideals. Imagine the good they could do for the world."

They could, literally, say that about _any_ supervillain. It amazed him that so many resorted to a life of crime when going legitimate would gain them so much more; not the least of which being a life of freedom.

They happened upon the odd AIM agent here and there, all of which were in search for the Hub's presiding agent. They were taken down swiftly and quietly. Clint didn't know when this turned into a black ops mission, but whatever it took. "Redwing seeing anything?"

Sam took a moment to check the feed. "Looks like most of the AIM guys are collected in the eastern corridor." He then saw them blast a barricaded door down and stampede inside. Moments later, two of them walked out, dragging Victoria Hand out by her wrists. She wasn't moving. "Shit! They got Hand! This way!" He took point, sprinting through the halls, careful not to trip on any dead bodies.

His gauntlet was equipped with a GPS tracker that could always lead him directly to where Redwing was located. Unfortunately, the drone wasn't equipped with any weapons, or any devices that could cleverly be used in an offensive manner.

They rounded a corner and could hear a commotion from further down. "Take her to MODOK!"

"Wait for Coulson to get here before we do anything else."

"Have Johnson and Smith checked back in yet?"

"No, why?"

"Scanners picked up a SHIELD quinjet leaving the facility about ten, fifteen minutes ago. I want the building swept. Any heroes dealt with. Understood?"

"Oh, I understand perfectly." Storm raised her hands toward the ceiling. As the AIM agents were yelling in shock and scrambling to find their weapons, pitch black storm clouds were forming before their very eyes. "I call upon the full might of the elements!" Category Four winds picked up in an instant, swirling around the hallway and picking the AIM agents off the ground and tossing them about like pieces of debris in a tornado. Lightning erupted from the cloud, striking them with the unadulterated fury of Mother Nature.

Storm was admittedly less powerful than Thor, but her control was much greater. The hurricane struck only those that she intended to harm. The facility and her teammates weren't even bothered by the wind, much less threatened by the lightning.

The winds ceased, tossing the unconscious bodies on the ground like day old trash. Ororo calmly stepped around them and kneeled down beside where Hand's body was dropped. She felt a pulse, thankfully. "She is still alive."

"Thank god," Clint said, a little out of breath. Even if he had been teaming up with Thor for years, being that close to a storm that powerful never ceased to take his breath away. After having suffered Storm's wrath last year on Genosha, he was glad to be on the outside looking in, as it were. He gently patted Hand on the cheek to rouse her.

She groaned softly as her eyes fluttered open. "Wha... Barton?"

"Yeah, it's me, Hand." He gently helped her sit up. "What happened?"

She squeezed her eyes closed, most likely to adjust to the sudden light more easily. When she opened them again, she glanced around. "Coulson didn't come with you, did he?" When Clint shook his head, she sighed with relief. "Good. I was afraid I had been too clever with my message. I was in the middle of briefing when they showed up. Them and that freak MODOK. We didn't stand a chance, but we went down swinging." She sighed and tried to stand up. Clint and Sam helped her to her feet. "MODOK demanded that I bring Coulson here. For what, I have no idea."

"Are there any other SHIELD agents left, Agent Hand?" Ororo asked.

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "Anyone that isn't dead is out cold from the knockout gas they opened their assault with."

"Did MODOK have any other major faces with him?" Sam asked.

"I think I saw Whiplash and a few other guys. I didn't get good looks at them before I ran and hid," Hand answered. She winced and touched her head. It was then that Clint noticed the gash just above her hairline. "Before you ask, I'm the only one still here. Everyone else was either captured or killed."

He grimaced when he saw the nasty cut. Hearing that Hand was the only innocent bystander present should have relaxed him somewhat, as that meant they could go all out and not worry about anyone getting in the way. It didn't. That only made him more nervous. He couldn't pinpoint why. "I'll call in our jet and have him pick you up. We have a base at Avengers Tower right now. Coulson can fill you in."

Hand nodded and turned to leave. "Be careful. And good luck."

Clint watched her walk away carefully before turning back to his team. She didn't appear to be dazed or wobbly, which was good. "You heard the woman. No agents to save, but we got bad guys to stop. Let's get a move on."


	6. Mysterious Revelations

_**A/N:** Very sorry for the long delay. Hopefully, I'll be able to update on a more regular basis._

 _ **Mysterious Revelations**_

 **The Hub – 11:00 PM**

Several floors below where Clint and the others were making their way down, AIM was watching them progress on a large video screen. There were only four of them, and three of them were very low on AIM's hero index. Storm, however, was very high. She was an Alpha level mutant, the second strongest tier, only behind the Omegas. While not as powerful or as high profile, that tier included the likes of Magneto, Emma Frost, Sebastian Shaw, and many others. A walking hurricane was on her way to foil their plans.

MODOK could not allow that. Doctor Doom contacted him a week ago that day and informed him of the plan he had. While details were scarce, the pay was enough to pique his interests, and the promise of unlimited scientific research materials sealed the deal. MODOK didn't like being someone else's errand boy; but, when that someone else was Victor von Doom, he could do nothing but say yes.

The mission they were assigned was simple enough. Infiltrate the Hub how they saw fit, and gather everything they could on the revamped Project: Rebirth. They were surprised no one had heard of it before; undoubtedly a testament to SHIELD's ability to keep their secrets exactly that, secret. The project stemmed, according to the documentation, from a vial of blood taken from Steve Rogers after he was brought back from the ice in 2010. For seven years, Nick Fury, Brandon Trent, and Phil Coulson had been synthesizing more of Rogers blood in preparation for their trial and error.

There were many trials, and many, many errors. Hulking beasts, like albino Hulks, were the constant results. They were mindless beasts, tainted by the super soldier serum, their humanity and sanity lost. There were over twenty pages documenting failure after failure. No successes so far. The hulking behemoths were exterminated in droves, sedated then cremated for good measure. Their ashes were atomized to permanently hide the evidence.

Phil Coulson's SHIELD was just as sordid as Fury's, despite the strikingly different personalities between the two.

MODOK could hardly believe it when he read the documents. That someone as unassuming as Coulson was capable of such inhumane acts was as far-fetched as it was shocking. Then again, he would have never believed that someone like Coulson could take someone like Madame Hydra down all by himself, yet, he did. Perhaps that was the point.

Fury was known throughout the spy world for his ruthlessness and pragmatism. Coulson was known for his compassion and unassuming nature. This led many to believe he was weak, MODOK included. This, as he learned the hard, painful way, was a mistake. Coulson was just as ruthless as Fury, and just as dangerous. Perhaps even more than Fury. He just wasn't so up front about it. A man who would smile in your face, then shoot you in the back of the head when you turned around was significantly more dangerous than one who would simply shoot you in the forehead. At least with the latter, he knew what to expect.

The elevators were disabled, so the heroes were forced to take the many stairs to the bottom level bought them some much needed time to gather everything they needed. Pym's cybernetic helmet was somewhere in one of the labs above them, but they just couldn't risk sending someone out and having that person run into Hawkeye and the others.

MODOK sighed to himself.

"Sir, the data download is nearly complete," one of his subordinates reported.

"Good." MODOK glanced at the security monitors again and noticed that the heroes had descended another level. According to his calculations, it wouldn't be another ten minutes at their current rate of progression before they were there to stop them. Luckily, he and Doom foresaw this and made advanced preparations. "Mysterio, the heroes are closing in on your location. Stop them at all costs!"

 _=Understood. Moving to intercept.=_

MODOK calculated that Mysterio only had a 33.2344% chance of killing the heroes. More specifically the ones that mattered, Storm and Ant-Man. Hawkeye and Falcon were insignificant as far as he was concerned. Even still, he didn't need him to beat them, but rather delay them long enough for the download to complete and for one of them to escape the Hub and return to Doctor Doom. And, as luck would have it, they had just entered the floor in which SHIELD's secret handiwork would do all the work for them.

* * *

Clint didn't like it. Ever since they had found Hand and sent her back to Avengers Tower, they had had too easy a time making their way down through the facility. Of course, he dared not even dream of saying that out loud; he knew from experience that things went immediately to shit the moment those words were uttered. There was no need anyway; it seemed that the others were thinking the same.

This floor, like the three above it, was barren of any resistance at all. He would have thought that MODOK would have thrown the entire roster at them, but apparently, he was smart enough to know that wasn't going to get the job done.

They descended down a short flight of stairs that led to a small containment area. Inside twelve pods that were lining both sides of the area were massive, bulging behemoths. "What the hell?" Sam whispered. He approached one and tapped the console controlling the pod. There was a name – Luther Valdez – displayed above a set of vitals. Mr. Valdez was still alive, but was in some kind of stasis.

The same held true for the remaining eleven.

"What do you think they are?" Ororo asked, voice hushed from shock.

"Prisoners, maybe?" Scott suggested.

"Those are the results of SHIELD's super-soldier project," answered a man on the level above them.

"Mysterio!" Quentin Beck, former Hollywood stunt man and special effects designer turned super-criminal, was a long-time enemy of Spider-Man and one of the original members of the Sinister Six. The team went defunct when the leader, Dr. Octopus, was arrested in the STRIKE raid years ago. Even if he was released and exonerated when Hydra was exposed, they never recovered.

It appeared that Beck fell upward, since it appeared that he was working for Doom.

He cackled evilly and pressed a few buttons on the device in front of him. "You're a meddlesome bunch, aren't you? Well, let's see if these don't slow you down!" The machine, a neural inhibitor that was keeping the super-soldiers unconscious, went into overload and shut down.

"Shit! These things are about to wake up!" Clint readied his bow with a powerful concussive arrow and braced himself. He would rather not kill them, but if it came down to them or him and his team, he was going to pick himself every time.

The first super-soldier, the one Sam checked on when they first arrived, shook himself awake and smashed his way through the reinforced gorilla glass. They each stood, easily, at eight feet tall. They were as wide and bulky as the Hulk. Clint hoped they weren't as strong.

He shot a concussive arrow, which stuck on the first super-soldier's forehead. It exploded, and caved its skull in. Normally, that would have killed most; it barely staggered the super-soldier. It roared and grabbed Clint, snatching him off the ground with ease and hurling him into Sam. The two men slammed to the ground and slid a few dozen feet.

"Ugh," he groaned. From his seat, he notched and shot an explosive arrow at one that was trying to force his way through a whirlwind Ororo created. It stuck in his ear and exploded. This one fell, headless. "Booyah motherfucker!"

"Great shot, Clint," Sam commended. "Can you please get off me now?"

"Oh, sorry." He helped Sam to his feet, then immediately shot two more explosive arrows. They struck true just like the one before it, killing two more super-solders and knocking another away from Scott. That gave him time to shrink it down to the size of an ant with his Pym Disc.

That was four down, but there were still eight more where they came from.

"Winds! I command you to freeze these monstrosities!" Winds colder than the most bitter Russian winter picked up and froze the five of the giants solid. A set of concussive arrows from Clint shattered them into pieces. "Begone!"

The remaining three were gunned down by a relentless barrage of incendiary bullets from Sam. "Goddamn it. I hope that's the last of these bastards."

"Come on, Sam. You and I both know there's plenty more where those came from."

"I was trying to optimistic, but thanks for the reality check," he replied snidely.

"But, where did they come from?" Ororo asked somberly. "Surely, Mysterio cannot be telling the truth."

Surely, SHIELD wouldn't knowingly create these kinds of monsters. Nick Fury, Clint could definitely see being behind something like this. But, not Phil Coulson. Coulson was supposed to be better than Fury, or at the very least different. He was supposed to be above board, divulging everything he and SHIELD were doing to the WSC. There was no way the likes of Steve Rogers would let this go on if _these_ were the only successful results of the super-soldier project.

"Don't know, Storm," Clint answered. "I do know that something doesn't smell right around here, and I plan on finding out what the hell's going on."

They nodded in agreement. SHIELD wasn't being upfront with them, and he didn't like it. Which was funny, since he understood the need for compartmentalization once upon a time when he was a SHIELD agent. He supposed he had been a hero for too long to remember how useful it is for keeping secrets like this. He was willing to bet that half the organization wasn't even aware that they were revamping Project: Rebirth.

Clint was right. They encountered many more of the hulking super-soldiers in their search for Mysterio. With every one they killed, the more they feared that these were mutated SHIELD agents being used against their will. They had no free will. It seemed that Mysterio or MODOK had pointed them in a direction and told them to attack. It just so happened that Clint and his team were in that direction.

They found Mysterio in a engineering lab, downloading what looked like updated schematics for Ultron onto a thumbdrive. "Beck, stop!"

"You're too late, heroes. I bet you don't even know why SHIELD has these Ultron schematics."

A cold chill ran up their spines. After the revelation about the super-soldiers, there was no telling what else SHIELD was up to. "They... they must be looking for a way to combat him."

"Ha! Guess again. These plans are a year old."

A year? Which meant that SHIELD had Ultron schematics over a year _after_ he had been deactivated and defeated in China. There was no need to make plans on how to defeat him, since there was no reason to believe that he was going to make a return. He obviously had, but there was no reason for SHIELD to think that he would.

Clint's keen eyesight spotted green writing on the schematics. They were indicated percentages of improvement for various components. "Those are upgrades."

"Very good. SHIELD planned on rebuilding Ultron and upgrading him using these plans," he explained. "They intended on making him the SHIELD weapon he was originally commissioned to be, whether he wanted to be or not.

"But Ultron is sentient. Upgrading him would be illegal." Not to mention irresponsible.

"Indeed it is," Mysterio responded with a sneer in his voice. "Sounds like Coulson isn't as virtuous as you first thought, eh, Hawkeye?" He laughed mockingly and placed the thumbdrive in his suit. "Not that I care a whit. Ultron only wanted these plans for the weapons upgrades."

"You're not getting out of here with those plans." Clint nocked an arrow and shot it before Mysterio could reply.

Not that it mattered. Green smoke billowed up from his feet, engulfing him and obscuring him from the team. The arrow lanced through the cloud and thin arrow before lodging itself into the wall behind him. Suddenly, there were three Mysterios. "Ahahaha. I'd like to see you try and stop me, heroes!"

One Beck was annoying enough. Three were a nuisance and a waste of time that they couldn't afford. According the building schematics that Sam downloaded, they were only four floors away from where MODOK would have been downloading the Project: Rebirth data. Four floors away from throwing a spanner into Doctor Doom's plans.

Clint shot another arrow, only to curse when it went straight through his target. "Damn it, Beck! We don't have time for this!"

"I know," he answered with a sinister glee that raised his hackles. "Even if you stop me, MODOK only needs a few more minutes before he and AIM can clear out with that super-soldier data. Then, Doctor Doom will move forward with his plan."

"It does not even work," Storm countered. "The serum only creates those monstrosities." Her whirlwinds tore through the room, picking up everything that wasn't nailed to the ground and tossing them at Mysterio. Like Clint's arrows, they went right through him. All three, in fact, seem incorporeal.

To that, Mysterio was silent, which clued them in that that may have been Doom's intention: to create an army of those monsters. But, why was the question. They didn't seem like they could be controlled any easier than the Hulk could.

Scott shrunk down to avoid the clones' return fire. While they couldn't be hurt, they could hurt the heroes just fine. At his smaller stature, he noticed something the larger heroes didn't. There was a holographic generator tucked away in a corner of the room, obscured by a pile of debris thrown around by Storm's whirlwinds. It was likely that the real Mysterio was long gone and they had been fighting his clones for the last five minutes. "Damn it." He hitched a ride on a fruit fly and quickly flew over to the generator, then shrunk it down to the Microverse.

The clones blinked out of existence seconds later.

" _Bravo, Ant-Man,"_ Mysterio's pompous voice echoed through the room, _"I suppose you're more intelligent than I gave you credit for. But, you're too late. MODOK and I are long gone with both the Ultron schematics and Project: Rebirth. AHAHAAHAHAHA!"_

Mysterio wasn't a fighter. He was a master of misdirection and subterfuge; the perfect recruit to distract them long enough for his team to escape without risking capture. Unlike Scorpion, Graviton, and Fin Fang Foom, he was more than willing to realize that he stood no chance against the heroes and planned accordingly. And that plan went perfectly. He and MODOK escaped with everything Ultron and Doctor Doom requested.

"Goddammit!" Clint roared as he slammed his fists into the only upright table. "We wasted so much time for nothing!"

"I now see that Doom and his mean business," Ororo uttered quietly. "Which means we must not take anything for granted, no matter who he throws at us."

Sam placed a comforting hand on Clint's shoulder. "Let's sweep the rest of the building to make sure no more of those giants are around, then get out of here. Coulson will want to hear about this."

They still had to look for Hank's cybernetic helmet, plus make sure that AIM didn't make off with any more of SHIELD's top secret research.

"There's one thing I don't understand," Sam pondered as they headed down to the lower levels. "Tony's dad made a super-soldier serum that works, right? It's the one that James and Viper took, right? Which means that whatever's left of Hydra probably still has it on file. Why not go to them? Why go through all this trouble?"

"That's the million dollar question," Scott muttered morosely. "Knowing Doom, he knows that and this is what he wanted," he continued, gesturing to the headless giant that Clint had just killed with an exploding arrow.

Why? They would only wonder.


	7. Questioning the Authority

_**A/N:** First off, let me apologize for the unexpected and lengthy absence. I guess I just needed to step back so I could focus on other things for a while. Now I'm back with two chapters to make up for it, with a third to be posted very soon. I would have posted these on Christmas Day, but I was having issues uploading documents to FFN. Now that the issue has been resolved, we're back in business :)_

* * *

 _ **Questioning the Authority**_

 **Avengers Tower**

"This isn't good," Coulson sighed when debriefed on the failed mission. Hand was alive, but the more important mission objectives slipped right through their fingers in the blink of an eye. With those schematics, Ultron would be able to upgrade himself into an even more powerful juggernaut. And of course, they all knew what the super-soldier giants were capable of. An army of those beasts would be more than enough for anyone to handle.

"Now what?" Steve asked.

"More than likely, the Masters are holed up in Doom's castle, so we prepare to launch an assault on Castle Doom. Or at the very least, prepare a reconnaissance team," he answered.

"It'll be a bitch and a half trying to get into Latveria now," Hill noted from her post. "Now that he knows we're on to him, the borders are going to be sealed up tight."

She was right. It was just too risky to try anything against Latveria and Doom at this juncture. The villains he had amassed and thrown at them thus far was impressive; and there was no way to know just who – and what – else was lurking within the stone walls of Castle Doom.

"Damn it, we have to do something." Coulson huffed and started to pace back and forth. Watching him, Clint contemplated confronting him about why SHIELD was knowingly creating those giant super-soldiers, even when they knew the serum they were using was a dud. He decided against it. Ultimately, the why wasn't important; at least, not right then. When this was all over and it was all said and done, then Clint would demand answers.

The most important thing was what Doom planned on doing with the new and "improved" super-soldier serum. Those giants were a lot stronger than Steve and Barnes, that was for sure. Not to mention bigger and more durable. While it wouldn't have been a problem for the stronger members of the task force to take down an entire army under normal conditions, with Doom, no condition was ever normal. There was little doubt he was going to make improvements and changes to suit his needs and make them even stronger.

That was the problem they were faced with. They had no idea where to go from there, and that only gave Doom time to do what he needed to do to increase his edge.

"Keep an ear out for any trouble," Coulson told Hill. "The moment Doom sneezes, I wanna know about it."

"Yes sir."

Clint walked out of the makeshift SHIELD command center in the garden area, headed back to the living room where a few of the heroes were resting until the next time they were needed. He noticed Scott following him and slowed down to let him catch up. "Did you tell Hank about Ultron?"

He nodded silently, but didn't verbalize anything other than a heavy sigh.

"I take it he didn't respond well?"

He breathed out a chuckle. "That's an understatement."

Everyone knew that Hank Pym was still feeling guilty about Ultron's reign of terror a few years ago. Hundreds of thousands of people died the world over because of that deranged murderbot, and a very significant amount of people held Hank directly responsible.

In a lot of ways, he _was_ directly responsible. He _did_ create Ultron, after all. Of course, it wasn't until Hydra got their claws into him that Ultron went insane and decided that genocide was the best way to deal with the human race. Them destroying him was essentially erasing the biggest mistake in Hank's entire life. For him to find out that SHIELD was planning to not only rebuild him, but also attempt to reprogram him – despite the JARVIS Act, which protected sentient AIs from tampering, explicitly outlawing that – had to feel like he was being stabbed in the back and the knife twisted mercilessly.

Clint felt for the guy. He really did.

"Jan's doing what she can to calm him down," Scott continued after an uncomfortable silence.

"He's depressed again?"

"More like pissed," he corrected, with a noticeable edge. "Coulson went behind his back with this. We expected this from Fury or that one guy Hydra brought in, but not Coulson."

That was a fair thing to say. Everyone just assumed that Coulson was going to be better than Fury was; or at the very least, not willing to get so dirty. Maybe it was the nature of the job. He didn't know everything that Fury had on his plate, but he knew that it was a lot. Guys in his position didn't have the time or the luxury to play it by the rules or to do what was morally right. "Nature of the job, I guess."

"Yeah," he scoffed.

Scott and Hank weren't the only ones questioning Coulson and SHIELD. "I just don't get it," Luke uttered when they walked into the living room. "Why keep this shit going when all they were making were those big fuckers?"

"I don't know," Sue shrugged. "I'm more worried about this mutant nullifier that was also stolen."

Clint raised an eyebrow and walked over to the sofa so he could read her tablet over her shoulder. The page displayed was a set of schematics for an experimental mutant power nullifier. It was eerily similar to the ones used by the MRD, but much more covert. According to the schematics, it looked like a simple smartphone, but had a nullification range of nearly thirty yards. As with the MRD's, any mutant caught in its range was powerless and completely at the mercy of whoever activated the nullifier. "Unreal. Do they know about this?" By 'they', he, of course, meant a certain mutant on Genosha.

"Not that I know of," she answered.

"Going into the mission, we only knew about the super-soldier serum. Now, all this shit comes out." Luke shook his head, clearly disgusted with every new thing he learned. "I'm almost too scared to find out what else they're hiding."

"Some skeletons are best left in the closet, Luke," Daredevil said. Matt Murdock, defense attorney by day, bone-snapping vigilante by night. He patrolled Hell's Kitchen and kept the streets free of crime, outside of whoever worked for the Kingpin. "We need to stop pretending to be surprised by this."

"What? Coulson was supposed to be better."

"How? Because he's nicer than Fury?" Matt waited to see if anyone was going to answer. When no one did, he continued. "Coulson learned everything he knows from Fury. Including how to run SHIELD. Men in his position can't afford to play it by the rules. We may not like it, but SHIELD is as effective as it is _because_ they're above the law."

"Funny coming from a defense attorney," Scott muttered snidely.

Of course Matt heard that. He breathed out a chuckle. "A bit hypocritical. Good thing I'm Catholic."

That got a laugh out of an otherwise glum Scott.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in Latveria**

"What good will this serum do, Doctor? All it does is create these mindless beasts."

There were few people who Doom would tolerate second guessing him. Loki was one. It was only because he needed Loki's help with his final goal that he was allowed to question his intentions and motives. The god had a sharp intellect. He observed things that no one else even noticed. No one but Doom, that was. "That is the point. They are mindless, thus easy to control. And they are stronger than previous 'successes' such as Rogers could ever hope to be."

Doom's plan was simple. Invade Asgard and steal Odin's power. Much easier said than done, obviously, but nothing was too difficult for a man of Doom's intellect and willpower. Of course, he didn't plan on stopping there, but there was no need to divulge his entire plan to those who would reap no rewards from it.

These villains he amassed were merely pawns on his chessboard. A means to help him get to the end. Not that Doom ever needed help from anyone; they were distractions to keep Coulson and his heroes off his back until he achieved success. So far, so good. He had the super-soldier serum, the mutant nullifier, and the location of a certain mutant who was going to help him with the next phase of his plan. He also had the means to ensure that said mutant would do as he wished.

Coulson and SHIELD remained several steps behind Doom, and would remain behind for however long Doom allowed him to remain in the race. Once his usefulness was complete, he would receive the same fate Crossbones did.

Doom and Loki left the medical area to allow the 'volunteers' time to undergo the process and headed back to where the others were. "Are you ready for your performance in Atlantis?" he asked Loki.

"Aye. The treacherous Mandarin will rue the day he sought to wrest control for himself."

Gene Khan, a few weeks ago, attempted to usurp Doom as leader of the Masters of Evil. This was because he was one of only two original Masters, along with Amora. A foolish reason, and an even more foolish endeavor. It failed, obviously. Even if the others hadn't fully supported Doom's leadership, Mandarin would have unable to defeat him in a contest to determine who was most fit to lead.

His first mind was to kill Khan on the spot, but he saw a use for the ambitious imperialist. A use that was sure to lead the heroes astray for a little while so they could proceed with their plans unhindered. If it led to some of Coulson's lackeys being killed before the truth was revealed, all the better.

"It is now time to begin the next phase of our plan," he announced when they reached the others. "Loki, if you will."

"Of course, good doctor. I shall return shortly with our quarry." Where Doom was expecting a bombastic flash of light to signal his teleportation, Loki merely faded from view, similarly to how his clones disappeared. Which made Doom wonder if he had actually been there at all.

No matter. As long as he accomplished what was asked of him, _when_ he started his task was of little consequence.

A doombot handed him a holographic tablet that displayed the results of the super-soldier experiments. As predicted, the very first recipient was a success. Doom expected nothing less. He nodded and gave the go ahead to inject the remainder of the prisoners with the super-soldier serum that Coulson was so kind to provide.

Everything was progressing according to plan.

* * *

 **Five Hours Later**

"Sir, we have a major issue in Atlantis," Daisy reported. Coulson was by her side moments later, eyes scanning over the transmission transcript that had just been sent to them. It was from the Atlantean outpost that Fury set up years ago, unbeknownst to Namor. There was a coup that had just finished up. Two of Namor's enemies stormed the throne along with dozens of Atlantean citizens and soldiers, snatched Namor off said throne, and imprisoned him somewhere.

This had Doom's fingerprints all over it. There was little doubt that Atlantis had something Doom wanted and Namor was unfortunate enough to be standing in the way. That, though, didn't explain why his followers betrayed him, but that could be figured out later.

"Alright, let's get some heroes together and get out there. Namor's gonna owe me one."

"I'm pretty sure he's gonna consider this payment for finding Rogers," May noted from her seat across the room.

"Owe _me,_ not Fury."

"Let's not pretend you didn't fanboy when he was found." Coulson grimaced and marched out, coaxing a massive smirk.


	8. To Become a King

_**To Become a King**_

 **SHIELD Atlatean Outpost**

Cyclops led a team consisting of Invisible Woman, Black Panther, and Mockingbird to the SHIELD outpost near Atlantis.

"I am not sure if I am comfortable knowing that SHIELD has a secret outpost near a nation with historically closed borders," T'Challa noted with a slightly sour undertone. "It makes me curious about whether there is one near Wakanda."

"In all likelihood, there probably is," Scott responded frankly. It made sense from a logistics perspective. SHIELD needed to keep tabs on everything to make sure that there wasn't an issue that threatened the world's safety. While it did little to instill trust in SHIELD, it was a necessary evil.

Of course, that also meant that they were keeping secret tabs on the Xavier Institute and Genosha. The latter, Scott had no issue with; the former, on the other hand, made him just as uncomfortable as it did T'Challa.

Sue handed them a set of silver belts to wear around their waists. "These will let you breathe and speak underwater. We better get a move on. Namor could still be in trouble."

It was no secret that Sue was close with Namor. Closer than her husband felt comfortable with. It was also no secret that Namor was attracted to Sue. Something Scott could relate to – that being another man being attracted to his wife, of course. He was a bit surprised that Reed wasn't there with them, just in case. Then again, he doubted Reed even knew that they had another mission. For someone so smart, he was so absent-minded.

"A force-field? Rather elementary," T'Challa stated plainly.

"He left his nanites at home. Come on." They followed Sue to the platform, where Bobbi was waiting to open the hatch so they could dive down.

This was Scott's first time in Atlantis, so when they dove down into the vast oceanic waters with five domed cities in view just over the horizon, he was in complete awe. Even at that distance, he could clearly see their majesty and beauty. "Wow, it's beautiful here."

"It is, isn't it? I like coming here because everything is just so... untainted, I guess."

He figured Namor wouldn't allow human waste to contaminate the waters around Atlantis for very long, if ever. The water around them was so clear. Fish and other sea creatures of every size, color, and shape swam either past them or away from them, leaving nothing but little air bubbles in their wake. It was easy to get caught up in the surroundings, but they had a job to do. They could sight-see later.

Minutes of swimming toward the nearest city later, two Atlantean guards – cloaked in thick silver armor and armed with large halberd-like weapons – approached them quickly.

"Hello!" Sue called out to them. "I'm Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four. I'm here to—Gah!" She had to duck under a pair of green energy balls that the guards unleashed.

"Leave Atlantis now, surface scum!" one of the guards yelled. They charged toward them, gliding through the water like two enrage electric eels. The team tried to move out of the way, but they weren't as accustomed to moving under water as the guards were. They're movements were slow and awkward, and they paid for it.

The two Atlanteans barreled through the heroes like bowling balls through a stack of pins. T'Challa was the first one back to his feet – that was to say he was the first one to reach a vertical base. "We mean you no harm," he attempted to reason.

They were hearing none of it. The halberd-like weapons in their hands fired off multiple balls of energy. His cat-like reflexes and agility were neutralized underwater, but his vibranium suit was more than able to deflect the incoming blasts. Two vibranium knives sliced through the water and lanced through their armor, piercing their skulls.

"This will be a problem moving forward," he noted as he retrieved his knives. "Our movements are stifled, whereas the Atlanteans' are not."

That was a major issue. If all of Atlantis was going to be against them, as seemed to be the case, then they needed to be able to move freely. If this first fight was any indication, this mission was going to be a long and painful one.

"Maybe not," Bobbi said. "We don't have to fight them up close, which is where being slower is an issue. Sue and Scott have ranged attacks, so they should be leading our counterattacks. You can tank their attacks, so maybe you should take point so they attack you first. I'll provide backup where I can."

Scott nodded appreciatively. "Sound strategy, Mockingbird."

"Indeed."

"I would suggest," Sue spoke up, "that we not use lethal force. We can plausibly claim self-defense this time, but Namor won't like having to bury too many of his people."

T'Challa nodded once.

They moved on, keeping Bobbi's strategy in mind. T'Challa took point, as she suggested, with Scott and Sue bringing up the rear. Bobbi, the weakest, was in the middle. Scott couldn't help but worry about her. Every time they went up against superhuman threats – which was more often than not – Bobbi appeared to be in over her head. He had heard stories about her, well, being on the receiving end of some pretty vicious beatings from Madame Hydra. Both of which left her in the hospital.

Yet, despite all of that, there she was, still going head-to-head with people who outclassed her completely. It was admirable, if not bullheaded. He hoped this... almost compulsive need to prove that she could hang with the superhumans among them didn't get her killed. He had seen it enough to know it would, eventually.

Bobbi's planned worked. Any resistance they met – and they came across plenty – was rebuffed by Scott and Sue. T'Challa ate any attacks that came their way, and Bobbi cleaned up whoever was left and distracted by the other three.

"Where do you think Namor is?" Bobbi asked. How no one thought to ask that before was a mystery.

"I am not certain, but I hope we run into him soon. There has to be an explanation as to why the Atlanteans are attacking us."

* * *

For Namor, it had been a long day. One moment, his royal adviser was bringing him up to speed on the condition of the twelve city-states that comprised Atlantis, the next, he was being snatched off his throne by his own people. There was nothing, to his knowledge, that he had done that could have provoked such a sudden coup. To his knowledge, the people of Atlantis loved him, as much as he loved them. Every action he took, every decision he made was with their well-being in mind. To be betrayed in this way pained him to his very soul.

His aching heart was not his main concern, nor was his safety, but rather that of his wife's. Somehow, Namora had eluded whatever overcame the rest of the Atlanteans and remained on his side. That was good; he was sure he couldn't take being attacked by his love.

"Please, explain why you are doing this!" she begged the fifteen royal guards who had them cornered within the coral reef maze that led to the palace. Their faces were covered by the facemasks of their great helms, but their body language exhibited nothing but malice and hatred. There was no talking them down, no matter how much Namora desperately tried.

"Save your words. They do us no good." She glanced at him, seemingly wanting to argue, but ultimately knowing he was right. He sighed and floated forward, interposing himself between her and them. "Listen to me and listen well. I don't know what has come over you, but I will not allow you to lay a finger on your Queen. Lay your weapons down _now._ "

Even though he spoke firmly, even angrily, they didn't back down. "Be wise, _your highness,_ " one of them responded mockingly. "Surrender now and come with us to the prison. There, King Attuma will explain everything."

"Attuma?" Namor's fiercest rival, Attuma had always lusted after the throne. He believed that it was his destiny to rule, as he claimed it was foretold in the Atlantean Chronicles. Anyone with sense in their head knew that he was mistaken, that the Chronicles were written in a language that no one could translate, much less understand. Attuma was undaunted, and had come close many times to usurping Namor.

This time, he had succeeded. But, in doing so, he had gone too far. To manipulate the very people he wished to rule over was unforgivable. Not even Doctor Doom or Magneto would stoop that low, and they were villains of a caliber Attuma could never hope to reach.

"Attuma." Namor dashed forward, barreling through the contingent like a blue whale through kelp. He tossed them aside with ease, his strength vastly superior to theirs even without the added benefit of being completely submerged in water. Namora was right behind him, cleaning up any stragglers that gained the ill-fated hopes of catching him from behind as he tore through their companions like a bullshark.

The last one fell silently beside his contemporaries. "Hmph. We must find Attuma and wrest control of the throne away from him," he declared resolutely.

"A good idea, but what of the rest of Atlantis?" Namora pondered. "I highly doubt they attacked us merely because Attuma asked them to."

He frowned contemplatively. "I... don't know. I—" He cut off when he heard someone swimming up to them.

"Look, it's Namor!" he heard someone shout.

He whirled around, thinking that more were coming to attack them. To his relief, it was Sue and the others. "Susan, thank Neptune you've come when you did."

"Namor, are you and Namora okay? Everything has gone crazy here."

"We are both unhurt." He glanced at her, then at T'Challa, Scott, and Bobbi. "T'Challa, old friend, it is good to see you here, as well. I suppose your presence means Coulson received our transmission."

"It is good to see you well, Namor. I would wager you know more of the situation than we do."

"You would win that wager. Attuma is behind this coup. Somehow, someway, he has convinced all of Atlantis to turn against me. As such, he had no trouble taking the throne from me."

T'Challa stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Could it perhaps have had something to do with the tower that is heavily guarded not too far from here." When Namor raised a confused eyebrow, he continued. "Ten Atlanteans are guarding a blue tower that emits a white light. My visual sensors detect that that white light is actually some kind of sound wave."

That didn't sound familiar to either Namor or Namora. "Show us."

What they found was nothing short of strange. True to T'Challa's words, the dark blue tower stood in the center of an assembly of royal guards. He could hear the slight hum coming from the apex, right where the pulsating light was emitted. "That was not there yesterday," Namora noted. "Could that be why the Atlateans have grown so violent?"

"There is only one way to find out." Anything that had to do with Attuma wasn't good. If he was behind this tower, it needed to be destroyed. "I will handle this." He exploded forward without any further delay. Just before the guards noticed him, he veered upward and smashed through the pulsating light. Sparks showered over the bemused and startled guards.

He waited with bated breath to see if the spell was broken.

"Urg. What?" They shook the cobwebs from their heads, and immediately fell at Namor's feet to grovel forgiveness. "My King, please forgive our treachery!"

He held a hand up to silence them. "You were not in control of your actions. You are forgiven. Where is the treacherous Attuma?"

"In the Royal Palace, My Liege. But, the Palace is guarded by dozens and Tiger Shark is with him. It would be difficult for even you to penetrate the defenses."

"Hmph. The coward." The others quickly rejoined him. "Attuma has allied himself with Tiger Shark, and they are both hiding inside the Palace. It's guarded all around, so it will be difficult for me to get inside. Not that that will stop me from trying. Come along if you wish, but your assistance is no longer needed at this juncture." With that, he turned and began to swim toward the palace. Or he would have, had one of the surface-dwellers not made a noise of confusion. "Which of my words confuses you, woman?"

Bobbi cleared her throat to compose herself. "Your Highness, I don't think all of your followers are going to be free of the mind control or whatever turned them against you." He raised an eyebrow. "Atlantis is a big place, and I don't know what this thing's range is, but I doubt it would be large enough to cover the entire city."

Bobbi was right. Atlantis was over 150 Km wide, and Namor doubted that one of these sonic towers would be enough to control everyone in that wide and spacious and area. "I fear you are correct," he admitted begrudgingly. "Very well. We will search for the remainder of these towers and destroy them. _Then,_ I will exact punishment on Attuma and Tiger Shark. How many do you believe there are?"

It was T'Challa who answered. "There would have to be, at minimum, three remaining. Two to triangulate with this one, and one more to take care of the inevitable gap in the center, should there be no overlap. Namor, I would suggest we split up. We four will track down one, while you and Namora track another. Then whoever stumbles across the last may have the honor of destroying that one." He approached the sonic tower and took a moment to inspect it. "I would also suggest that you allow us to help you capture Attuma and Tiger Shark. Not to say that you cannot handle them both on your own, but Attuma did not build this technology himself. This had Doctor Doom's fingerprints all over it. Thus, there is little doubt that one of the Masters of Evil will be there waiting for us."

He had heard of the Masters of Evil and their attack on the SHIELD helicarrier and one of their bases. He decided that they were of no concern of his until they attacked Atlantis. Obviously, his stance had changed drastically after the day's events.

Victor von Doom was not one to be taken lightly, nor was anyone competent enough to be in his employ. Even if they weren't much as far as intelligence went, Doom did not associate with ones who were completely useless. "Very well. I will heed your wise council, T'Challa. Namora, let us leave with haste."

* * *

"God, what an arrogant prick!" Bobbi seethed once the two groups separated. " _Which of my words confuses you woman?_ Give me a fucking break!"

No one who had actually had any interaction with Namor MacKenzie, no matter how brief, could find any way to disagree.

"Well..." It sounded like Sue wanted to try, but gave up halfway. "Yeah, I got nothing. Let's just focus on finding the other emitters."

"It's strange that there are sound waves that alter thinking patterns, yet we aren't affected," Scott noted.

That was a good point, one Sue and T'Challa had been thinking on ever since they went their separate ways. "I would imagine it's because Atlantean brainwaves differ from normal humans," Sue posited. "Namor and Namora weren't affected, either, since they're both half-human."

"Namora is half-human, too?" Bobbi inquired with a raised eyebrow. "What are the odds?"

Sue hesitated to answer. There were rumors that some who had had close interaction with Atlantis that insinuated that Namor and Namora were actually related. There were other rumors that claimed that she, and the late Namorita, were both clones of his. For her own sake, Sue chose to believe the latter. The former was just too stomach-turning, even if this was a vastly different culture than those on the surface.

The search for the second sonic emitter was slow and arduous, thanks in no small part to the brainwashed Atlanteans attacking them at every turn. They seemed to be crawling out of the woodworks; no doubt planned that way by whichever Master of Evil sent there by Doctor Doom. Not to say that the Atlanteans were any match for the heroes; quite the opposite, in fact. They continued to employ Bobbi's earlier strategy and made quick work of the guards.

T'Challa was ultimately correct. They found the second emitter, and then the third one shortly after. Not long after destroying the third, Namora radioed in on the comm link she had been given before the two groups separated and reported that she and her husband had just destroyed the fourth emitter. They agreed to meet up near the entrance of the Royal Palace, out of the way so they could scout the place out ahead of time. Some of the guards who were still conscious offered to escort them there.

"Okay, this is going better than I thought it would," Sue stated. "All we have to do is stop Attuma and Tiger Shark, then stop whoever Doom sent and we'll be done."

"You make it sound so easy," Bobbi replied dryly. "It's never that easy. Something will go wrong like always."

"Just trying to be optimistic."

Bobbi caught her sidelong glance and sighed. "Sorry. Still salty from earlier."

"It's fine. Namor's like that with... everyone, so don't take it too hard."

"Everyone but you," Scott retorted.

"Yeah, well... yeah." It was no secret that Namor held an unusual amount of affection for Sue. Even Namora noticed. How could she not? It wasn't every day that a married man held another man's wife in the same regard that he held his own wife. Whether or not she was jealous was unknown. Most leaned toward no; Namor's feelings toward Sue aside, he was a faithful man.

"There," T'Challa uttered in an attempt to steer their thinking back to the task at hand. The palace appeared over the closest coral structure and they saw there were indeed over three dozen guards stationed at the entrances. What was curious, however, was that two dozen of them were attacking the smaller contingent and binding those that fell in bonds. "Interesting. Could those of the majority actually be allied with Attuma?"

"Seems that Namor sees it that way." Bobbi point at the barely visible blur slicing through the water directly for the commotion at the entrance.

Namor engaged the possible traitors with a fury they thought he would have reserved for Attuma. "TRAITORS!" he roared just before diving head first into the scrum.

"Damn it, Namor." Sue quickly swam over, if only to stop him from killing everyone he deemed had turned against him.

They were too late. The gap in power between Namor and the weaker, but still elite, Atlanteans making up the Royal Guard was as large as the Great Barrier Reef. They stood no chance.

It only took moments, but soon there was a litter of motionless bodies laying on the ground at Namor's feet. He wasn't even out of breath. "My patience has worn thin," he spoke gruffly, as if his patience wasn't always razor thin. "Attuma will pay dearly for this treachery. A coup is a declaration of war, and I will wipe these insurgents off the face of Atlantis!"

If nothing else, Namor was concise in what he intended on doing. "Wait, stop!" Sue cried, but to no avail. The headstrong monarch charged into the palace, barreling through anyone who just so happened to be standing – or floating, as it were – in his path. His path of destruction was made plainly clear by the trail of unconscious, broken bodies left in his furious wake. T'Challa and Bobbi stopped to check their pulses after being informed of the correction location by Namora. Most were still alive.

"We must stop him before he swims right into a trap."

As if spoken by a prophetess, Namora's words came true not long after they were uttered. As soon as he barged into the throne room to confront the false king, Attuma, he was instantly sucked into a vortex laying in wait just to the left of the door. His strength was immense under water, but it took the extent of his power to keep from being pulled to the bottom.

"Ahahaha! Still has impulsive and easy to goad as ever, Namor." The barbarian chieftain known as Attuma had blue skin like every other Atlantean except for Namor and Namora, and wore a green breastplate similar in size and shape to that of a megalodon tooth. His vambraces and pants were crafted from dark green scalemail, triply reinforced for durability. He wore an open-faced helm with a pair of large fins on the sides of his head. In his hand was a large gold trident. "I do not know how you managed to escape the first time, but this is where your life comes to an end."

He gestured to the man floating off to the side, presumably to avoid being caught up in the whirlpool. The man wore an orange and brown bodysuit with a large fin on top of his head. He was, obviously, the one known as Tigershark. When he grinned, they noticed that he had a mouthful of flesh-ripping teeth. "Look, My Liege! Namor even has a band of surface-dwellers to help him fight for his throne!"

Attuma took one look at the heroes and roared with laughter. "Is this what it has come to, Namor? You groveling at the feet of these 'mighty' warriors to fight your battles for you?" He glanced again at the heroes and gestured toward the doors leading outside. "I am feeling magnanimous, so this is your one and only chance. Leave this place, and leave Namor to his prophesied fate. Remain here, and suffer the same consequences as this half-breed."

A ruby-colored optic blast slamming into him, destroying the throne and leaving him in an indentation in the wall gave their answer. As if in slow-motion, he stumbled out of the wall and fell to his knees. "You would dare," he snarled through labored breaths, "attack the king of Atlantis?! For that, I sentence you all to death! By execution!" He picked up his trident, which had pinwheeled out of his grasp when Scott blasted him, and charged for the nearest hero, Bobbi.

"Oh, great," she sighed as she managed to duck out of the way before being skewered like a piece of meat. She swung her stave, but Attuma was just too fast for her to tag.

"Pathetic," Attuma appraised as she tried to simply make contact, much less actually hurt him. "To think that Namor actually needed the likes of you for aid is laughable!" T'Challa slashed him twice from behind while he was distracted. "Meddlesome mud slug!" His trident hit nothing but an empty space in retaliation.

"You would do well to surrender, Attuma," T'Challa stated as he managed to dodge the trident prongs intended to skewer him. He was an excellent swimmer, but underwater combat was not part of the training he received before taking up the Black Panther mantle. Attuma was much quicker and much more nimble than he was, not to mention hardier and much stronger. He trusted his suit to absorb the brunt of the damage, but that would do him little good if he couldn't actually score a retaliatory hit.

"Me? Surrender? To the likes of _you,_ surface-dweller?" Attuma chuckled derisively. "Laughable! I will crush you under my bootheel, then do the same to the rest of your companions. Perhaps I will even take your women as members of my burgeoning harem. At the very least, I will have Sue Richards. Imagine the look on Namor's face when he finds her with my child." Attuma erupted into rippling laughter, doubling over in his untimely amusement.

This gave Bobbi an opportunity to attach a shock grenade to his back. The back of the grenade held two adamantium prongs that could pierce even the Hulk's skin. These prongs could emit up to forty thousand volts of electricity, more than enough to stun a superhuman as strong as Attuma. Since the prongs were embedded in the flesh of the target, there was no risk of the voltage transferring through the water. It was designed specifically for underwater use, in fact.

Attuma's entire body locked up severely, to the point that he couldn't even scream.

Tigershark, meanwhile, had his hands full with Scott and Sue. Even though he was more than strong enough to tear them both limb from limb if he got his hands on them, between Scott's optic blasts and Sue's force-field, he couldn't touch them. "Damned earthworms!"

"Aren't you human?" Scott wondered. He shifted his position to gain a more strategic angle on both Tigershark and Attuma.

"I'm about as human as you are." When Scott faltered, he grinned. "I know all about you mutated humans. I would call you an abomination, but that would just be redundant."

Scott really didn't care if Tiger Shark was still human or not, nor did he care what stupid insult about mutants he felt was 'witty' enough to say out loud. He only asked to give himself a moment to scan the area around the throne. If Namor was anything like Magneto, the whirlpool was a trap that could be activated by pulling a lever or pressing a button. "There!"

Scott fired a blast at the ground to propel him upward, then fired another, thinner blast at the button on the left arm of the throne. That deactivated the vortex that had Namor trapped.

"No!" Tiger Shark was caught between trying to go after Scott and glancing cautiously at the cavity containing the vortex, and thus was unable to defend himself when Namor exploded toward him. Namor's fist impacted his jaw, sending him careening across the throne room, through two walls and into the far wall clear across the next area.

Namor charged toward his archnemesis just as he was freeing himself from the electrically induced paralysis. He recovered just in time to block the incoming punch, but was still knocked back several yards. "Damn you, Namor! I will not surrender my throne!"

"You have no say in the matter, fool."

Namor hurled himself at Attuma, clenched fist proceeding the remainder of his taut frame. The initial punch was parried cleanly and answered with a trident thrust that he was able to dodge with a moment to spare. That next moment was spent glancing at Sue, almost willing her to understand his intention to fight Attuma alone. He knew that Namora was somewhere nearby. Her absence during the initial battle could only mean that she was busy rallying the Atlanteans. If Tiger Shark proved too much for the four of them, there were two and a half million enraged citizens who would have been more than happy to give them any necessary assistance.

On that thought, there may not have been much – if anything – left of either usurper after such a confrontation.

As much as Namor would have loved to watch his hated rival torn to ribbons by the very people he longed to rule over, there was no room for underestimation.

Attuma roared and lunged at him, the razor sharp points of his trident gleaming in the lamplight. It was his one advantage. He was decidedly weaker than Namor, and needed a weapon to even the odds. With that in mind, he dared to reach out and grab the two outer prongs to halt its advance mere feet from his chest. He could feel a relatively gentle tug on the weapon as Attuma tried to rip it out of his grasp. He smirked and quickly spun around, forming a vortex of his own until it was freed from its masters grip.

Attuma went flying into the lefthand wall and slumped to the floor.

"A nice souvenir. A gift for your king, I can only imagine." He stabbed the three prongs into the ground, embedding the entire trident nearly a foot into the floor. Certainly nothing Attuma could not overcome, but doing so would waste precious seconds. Seconds they both knew he didn't have to spare.

At that moment, they were both unarmed, prepared to engage in a contest of strength. Namor would have the advantage, and they both knew that. It was the only reason why, despite his rage, Attuma had yet to engage him. "What is the matter, Attuma?" Namor inquired with false concern. "Afraid to face a superior opponent unarmed?"

"Superior? You?!" He growled and charged forward. Attuma was trained to fight, but as a barbarian, his fighting style was very basic and very violent. His punches were brutal when they connected, but they were slow and telegraphed, as he put his entire body weight into each blow for maximum damage. Against someone like Namor – who was also trained to fight with a more sophisticated style – those powerful, brutal blows hit nothing but empty space.

They also left Attuma open to counters. After one such missed punch, Attuma doubled over when Namor connected with two rapid punches to his kidneys, then a knee to his midsection. He slid back several feet, and almost keeled over, leaving him open to an elbow to the nose.

Green blood poured from his broken nose like the telltale leak of a broken dam. He reached up to wipe it away, and faltered when he noticed how much was covering the side of his hand. "You would dare," he snarled as his fist clenched to the point of trembling, "cause me to shed my own blood?! Your king and ruler!"

"You are a king of fools, Attuma," Namor retorted. "Surrender. I don't wish to waste any more of my time with you. There is the matter, you might recall, of Doom's presence here in Atlantis."

"You would do well to listen to my husband," Namora's voice filtered in from just outside the throne room entrance. "Otherwise, he will have to compete with these people for your head."

Attuma turned in her direction and froze with fear. She was standing at the entrance, serving as the only barrier between him and two and a half million Atlanteans. Many of which were carrying a weapon of some kind.

"My people do not take very kindly to being manipulated into betraying their _true_ king," Namor continued. "Surrender and tell me what the Masters of Evil gave you in exchange for helping with your coup, and I will spare you the mob's wrath."

Attuma's teeth gritted together. He hated the very idea of surrendering, but he also knew very well that there was no chance he would survive Atlantis' wrath. He had no choice. "They... they gave me the sonic emitters in exchange for allowing them free reign through the catacombs."

Namor growled.

"Who was it?" Sue asked. "Did they give their name?"

"All he told me was that he was known as the Mandarin, and that when he finished, he was going to someplace called the Valley of Spirits."

"He's probably long gone by this point," Bobbi noted. "When we get back to—" She very nearly let it slip that SHIELD had an outpost near Atlantis. "When we get back to base, I'll fill Coulson in and then we'll move from there. What did Mandarin take?"

Attuma sighed heavily. "The Tome of Asarius."

They didn't know what that meant. According to Namor, it was written in a long dead language that even the brightest scholars in Atlantis were unable to decipher completely. What little they could made no sense. It was buried in the catacombs because they determined that it was too dangerous to just leave lying around.

Clearly, Doom saw a use for it and sent Mandarin to retrieve it.

Attuma and Tiger Shark were escorted to prison, and were to remain their until Namor could decide what to do with them. In all likelihood, they were going to be executed for their acts of treason. A fitting end.

"Susan, T'Challa, and you two," Namor started with a nod to the four of them. "In hindsight, I can now see that your assistance was timely, if not ultimately unnecessary. Even still, we owe you a debt of gratitude, I suppose. As a token of my appreciation, you now have my permission to leave Atlantis."

"That is as close to a thank you as you will get," Namora said. "Thank you all for helping us free our people."

"You're both welcome," Sue answered. "We better get going. We still have a lot of work to do."

"Good luck to you all. Give Rogers my regards."

"Of course."


	9. Deadly Tale of Deception

_**Deadly Tale of Deception**_

 **The Next Day – 6:45 AM**

When Coulson was briefed on what the Atlantis team learned while helping Namor overcome the coup, he acted quickly. Tony, Janet, Carol, and Daredevil were sent to the Valley of Spirits to confront Mandarin and retrieve whatever this Tome of Asarius was. Also, if possible, ascertain anything they could about what Doom was planning. They left immediately, even before the previous team made it back from the outpost.

Tony wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, he understood the need to keep as close an eye on countries with closed borders as possible – and if the outpost hadn't existed, they likely wouldn't have known about the coup until it was too late. On the other hand, spying on sovereign nations was a move out of Fury's playbook, which rubbed Tony the wrong way. He, like many, thought that Coulson would go about his job differently.

Apparently not. The apple never fell far from the tree, after all.

As much as he would have loved to dwell on and speculate about what else Coulson and SHIELD were hiding – and he was certain they had plenty of skeletons in the closet – it wasn't the right time. Gene demanded their full attention, and Tony was going to give it to him. Unfortunately, he had only fought him once, and lost. He would have spent time reviewing footage from some of Gene's battles to record his fighting style into his suit, but he quickly realized that most of them were years old. Gene likely would have improved and added new techniques to his arsenal. Not to mention his rings.

"So, has anyone actually been to this place?" Carol asked, though it was clear she was talking mostly to him.

"Nope. I only just heard about it a few months ago, myself." And that was by accident. He happened upon an article about a mysterious crashed airship that was uncovered years ago in China. It was only when he did a little research that he found out that was where Gene had been hiding all this time. He never went after him since he hadn't made a ruckus since the days the Masters took over the world. He was regretting that decision at the moment.

Janet scoffed audibly. "It probably isn't that big a deal," she stated dismissively. "It's probably just some huge mansion that's overcompensating for some deficiency."

Well, that was an odd thing to say. It wasn't like Janet to be so focus on unimportant things during a mission. Unless Janet herself was overcompensating for the fact that she slept with Gene some years ago and was ashamed over it. Peter, in a desperate attempt to prolong a dying conversation with him, let that slip. Tony had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to bring it up. That moment wasn't then, of course.

"You sound like a jilted ex, Jan," Carol said flatly.

"Do not!"

"Oh, please," he scoffed. "Jan didn't make it far enough to become an ex." Well, it may not have been the right time to bring it up, but that hadn't ever stopped him before.

"How do you know about that?!" she screeched indignantly.

"Know about what?" He smirked knowingly. "Why, is there some nugget of truth hidden in my well-meaning jest, my dear?"

She huffed defiantly, but said nothing in reply.

Screwing around with Janet never ceased to be amusing, even on a mission that was this important. "As much fun as critiquing your choices in romance is, let's focus on the task at hand."

"You started it," she argued.

"Uh, no. Actually you did, but nice try, though."

"Hmph."

Contrary to Janet's demonstrative remark, the Valley of Spirits wasn't a building. It was an area that had been officially declared no man's land by the Chinese government fifty years ago after three hundred years of being considered so by the most superstitious of Chinese citizens. The rumor was that the valley contained the souls of long dead soldiers who still waged ghostly combat long after they were slain. Anyone who entered that area ran the risk of being killed and joining the phantom ranks for the rest of eternity.

This was more than enough to keep most people away. Gene Khan was not one of those people. When he heard of the Valley of Spirits, he knew that there had to have been something there that someone didn't want anyone to find, hence the ridiculous story. He was right.

When he explored the area, he found not a callous coterie of cantankerous cacodemons, but the wreckage of an ancient starship. Inside, he found the remains of a Makluan dragon, the same race of which Fin Fang Foom was a member.

After selling the technology to a museum for profit then stealing it back, he crafted his ten rings of power and his palace on top of the plateau that overlooked the entire valley. From there, he could survey the entire area and activate his defenses in case anyone got too close to discovering his secret. This was successful for over fifteen years. Any aircraft that got too close for comfort was shot down, the occupants brought to Gene's palace and killed. If anyone asked any questions, the government would just say that the spirits of the valley got a hold of them.

Today was no different. As soon as they entered the airspace over the valley, hidden turrets immediately opened fire. Carol was a phenomenal pilot, but not even she could avoid unrelenting laser fire with one turbine engine already filled with pitch black smoke. "Hold on to something!" she bellowed from the cockpit. At that juncture, her only hope was to do her best to ensure a safe landing. She and Tony would survive a crash landing; Janet and Daredevil would not.

SHIELD's quinjets were durable; durable enough to endure the jostling of intense turbulance without the occupants even noticing. They couldn't survive pin-balling into ten thick redwood trees and then careening into the side of a plateau. Fortunately, the occupants managed to escape the aircraft before impact.

"We're off to a great start," Daredevil stated dryly. "I guess this means Mandarin knows we're here."

"Well, he did practically invite us here," Tony noted. He knew that was rather odd for him to steal something Doom required, then immediately tell them where he was going to be hiding out. Unfortunately, there was precious little time for him to consider why that bothered him so much. "Somehow, I doubt he's up for talking."

Tony had Jocasta scan the immediate area to make sure it was safe for him and Carol to fly the other to the top of the plateau Gene's palace was built on. It wasn't. The entire valley was littered with anti-aircraft weaponry that was designed specifically with heroes in mind. Cluster missiles, aoe energy cannons, energy nets, the works. He sighed. "Too many AA defenses. Looks like we're hoofing it from here."

He was certain he and Carol would survive whatever Gene threw at them. Janet and Daredevil would not. He hoped that wouldn't become a running theme.

The team started to climb the plateau. The ledge was wide enough for them to walk two in a row initially, but gradually became narrower the higher up the went. To the point that they had to press themselves up against the wall behind them to keep from falling off. At the point where that became necessary, it was a very long way down.

"When we find Gene," Janet spoke about halfway up the plateau, "let me do the talking. I think I can coax enough answers out of him without needing to come to blows."

Between coax and blows, Tony could barely contain his laughter.

"What is so funny?" she demanded, fuming silently.

"Oh, nothing," he barely managed to choke out.

Carol looked from Tony to Janet, confusion clouding her expression. "Am I missing something?"

"If her elevated heartbeat is anything to go by," Daredevil noted, "yeah. Not that it actually matters. It was four years ago."

"How the fuck do _you_ know that?" Janet demanded. She didn't even consider the possibility that being so demonstrative was only digging herself a deeper hole.

He smiled wryly. "Spider-Man told me."

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm going to fucking murder him."

"Aw, come on, Jan," Tony said in an attempt to calm her down. "It's not like he meant any harm. He was just trying to prolong a dying conversation. Right, Matt?"

Daredevil, otherwise known as Matt Murdock, the infamous defense attorney from Hell's Kitchen. It took a special kind of man to uphold the law during the day, then turn around and break it blatantly at night. Matt claimed it was because he was Catholic, but that was said more in jest than anything else. The truth was the same for him as it was for pretty much any hero: he wanted to help his community the best he could. It just so happened that he was more than one way to make an impact.

"Right," he agreed. "He was pretty desperate about it, too."

"Isn't he always?"

With that said, the two decided to lay off Janet before she went off the deep-end. Without further discourse on the subject, Carol was left frustratingly confused. She was on the cusp of learning what had Janet's panties in a bunch, only to be teased then left hanging out to dry. She sighed tersely and – reluctantly – let it go. For then; after the mission was over, she was definitely having a talk with Peter. Before he was murdered, that was.

They had nearly reached the top of the plateau without incident. None of them dared say that out loud out of fear of that changing. "In all seriousness," Matt spoke, "it doesn't matter who does the talking when we get there, as long as we get him talking. I'll be able to hear his heartbeat and can tell whether he's lying or not. We can take it from there."

Not a bad ability; certainly one that would come in handy at a time like this. "Alright, sounds like a plan." With that, they prepared to infiltrate. Carol took point, with Matt and Janet in the middle, and Tony bringing up the rear. Mandarin wasn't to be underestimated. Even with someone like Carol on the team, there was no telling what was lurking in the halls of his palace. It was rumored that he had built a giant robot akin to Ultron, but no one was able to verify. They were about to find out, one way or the other.

If they were expected an average, stereotypical mansion when they reached the top of the plateau, they were sorely mistaken. Gene's palace wasn't so much a palace as it was a fortress or castle. Protected by a fifty foot tall, three foot thick wall constructed of solid adamantium, the castle was comprised of multiple towers melded together in the center. At the top of each tower were scarlet, upturned roofs. On each corner of the guard wall was a statue of a Chinese dragon, facing each of the four cardinal directions.

Mysteriously, there were no defensive measure outside the palace. "I have a bad feeling about this," Carol muttered as she and the others looked up to take in the breathtaking sight before them. The others murmured their agreement.

 _So, this is where you've been hiding all this time,_ Tony thought to himself. It amazed him that this was out here in the open this entire time and no one, not even him, knew about it. It was the perfect hiding spot; out in the middle of nowhere in the middle of an area that the locals were scared to death to entire because of bullshit superstitions. Superstitions that he was sure Gene perpetrated.

He tucked his arms under Matt's and airlifted him over the wall, Carol and Janet close behind. Carol blasted open a window, giving them a way inside.

The inside of Gene's palace, at least the area they entered, was as traditionally Chinese architecturally as the exterior. The area had two floors; the top floor was essentially a balcony that stretched around the perimeter. It was suspended beneath the expansive, if not empty, bottom floor by two dozen large pillars. Those pillars, as well as nearly everything else in sight, were constructed from redwood limber with solid gold inlays.

"Well, well." Gene's voice filtered in from above them. They turned to find him leaning casually over the railing, two Korean women in scanty undergarments practically hanging off his arms. "What brings you here, Janet?"

The fact that he asked her specifically would have amused Tony to the point of laughter if he wasn't so confused. If Gene was the same today as he was when they were at MIT, then there was no way he was in Atlantis a few short hours ago.

"I'm not here to fraternize," she felt the need to point out. "Why were you in Atlantis today?"

"I wasn't," he answered immediately. "As you can probably imagine, I've been... preoccupied since last night."

"You're lying," Janet insisted. "Our team in Atlantis said that you were there and exchanged some of Doom's tech for something out of their catacombs. What was it called?"

"The Tome of Asarius," Carol answered. "What is it, Khan? What does Doom want it for?"

Gene gestured for the two women to take their leave. "How should I know? Like I said, I wasn't there." He tilted his head curiously. Tony could see the proverbial gears turning. "You don't know this, but Loki is a part of Doom's team."

He felt a cold chill run up his spine. He remembered Thor saying something about Loki and Amora escaping from prison and vanishing into the wind soon thereafter, but never gave it any thought since he was too caught up in his own business. He just assumed that Thor or Asgard would handle it. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that Loki would team up with Doctor Doom. That was a match made in hell and just made the task of stopping Doom a hundred times more difficult. "Reindeer Games must have used magic to disguise himself as Gene."

"Hm. Got it in one." Gene smirked coquettishly at Janet and folded his arms. "So sorry, my dear. I know how much you'd love to see me in handcuffs, but today isn't that day."

She let out a low, impotent growl. "We can still arrest you for something! People like you can't help but find trouble."

"Nope, sorry. I've been on the right side of the tracks ever since I got my pardon years ago."

"Pardon?" Matt spat. "Who gave it to you?"

"He's actually telling the truth?" Tony asked.

He nodded. "He is."

"Ah, let's see. What was his name? President Lewis."

"The Hydra plant? What makes you think it's even still valid?"

He shrugged lazily. "No one's been knocking down my door thus far. Not that it matters. I'm practically untouchable around here. The Chinese will never extradite one of their own; especially not one as influential as me."

They knew he was right. There was little, if anything, they could do about it. Today, at least. "Fine. Let's go, guys. We have more important things to worry about." Tony turned back the way they came and was about to take his leave when Gene cleared his throat. "Oh, did you remember something else?"

"No, but there is one more thing." He smirked and tapped a button on the side of his watch. Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet opened up, sending them tumbling down a set of hidden tunnels leading to the lower levels of the palace. "Might as well have some fun while they're here."

* * *

The team was separated at some point. Matt and Janet slid through an opening in the wall and landed roughly on a hard wooden staircase. They tumbled down, hitting their heads on the unforgiving surface a few times, then rolled to a stop on the stone floor.

Janet remained on the floor for a few long moments to allow her head time to clear and the throbbing pain permeating around every corner of her body to subside enough to get up without difficulty. She knew that Gene was telling the truth about not being in Atlantis, but why would he capture them? To have some fun before letting them go? He was a villain for sure, but he didn't seem the crazy type.

Then again, time changed people in unexpected ways. Who knew how the events of the past few years changed his outlook on life.

Eventually, she rose to her hands and knees, then straightened up until she was kneeling on one knee. The area they were in was empty outside of the pair of staircases – the one they had just so unceremoniously descended, and one that descended further down to a lower plateau. It was dimly lit, with only three lanterns suspended from the ceiling illuminating the immediate area. Everything beyond the light's touch was cloaked in shadows. Just peering into the unknown sent a cold chill up her spine.

There was no telling what was lurking in the shadows.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked Matt. She watched him slowly rise to his feet, rolling his right shoulder and grimacing. Suddenly, she heard a sharp pop, followed by a silent grunt. "Ew."

"Sorry. Where are we?"

"I'm not sure," she answered. She noticed he didn't bother looking around, choosing instead to look at her. "Looks like a staircase of some kind."

He grimaced. "I hate stairs."

An odd revelation, but not one she saw the need to inquire about. "Well, I guess we'll keep going down. I don't want to stay out in the open like this." She couldn't see the walls. She wasn't even sure if there _were_ any walls. She just didn't know what to expect from this place. "Come on." She noticed that he didn't start walking until after she did. "Hey, is it true what they say about you?"

"That I'm Catholic? Yes."

Her back was facing him, but she could hear the smirk in his voice. "No," she said with a roll of her eyes, "the other thing."

"That I'm blind? Also yes."

"Ah, crap." She supposed that explained why he never looked around and only walked after she started walking. "Do you, um, need me to help you, you know, walk?"

"No, I can manage. I can pick up on the smallest sounds. Enough noise and I can 'see' well enough."

"Like echolocation?"

"Yeah. It's not perfect, but it's kept me alive this long."

They started down the stairs, and, true to his word, he had little trouble walking down the steps. Not even a stumble, in fact. Their footsteps echoed through the quiet atmosphere, so he was likely using his echolocation radar to determine where he was going.

As they walked, Janet swore she heard something that sounded like a deep, gravely growl from somewhere in the shadows. She let out a soft shudder and huddled up close to Matt. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah. There's something out there."

Not what she wanted to hear. Between that and the persistent growling from the black unknown surrounding them, her nerves were starting to unravel. Suddenly, she saw the outline of something very large flitting in the shadows. She screamed and fired a wasp sting in that general direction.

It missed, but the light from the blast illuminated that general area. That allowed her to see what was stalking them. She only saw it for a moment, but it looked scaly and muscular, with a large, weirdly shaped head and large eyes. "Holy fuck!"

"What is it?" Matt sounded extraordinarily calm; a byproduct of being blind, she could only imagine. "Watch out!" He suddenly yanked her to the ground. Just in time, as the creature careened over them and slid to a stop several feet away.

It was big and it was ugly. It stood eleven feet, at minimum, with shoulders that were broader than Matt and Janet combined if they stood side by side. It massive head carried a mouth full of razor sharp teeth and a pair of cold, soulless yellow eyes that seemed to penetrate through even the stoniest of visages. Green, scaly skin was stretched over a mountain of muscles, each of which had to be larger than Janet's head.

"What the hell is that?" she stammered.

 _=That is Dragon Man,=_ Gene's smug, not at all sexy voice filter in from a hidden speaker. _=I always found Fin Fang Foom to be such an interesting creature, so I decided to make my own. Eh, not as aesthetically pleasing as I would like, but I'm sure that's the least of your worries. Oh, and he likes to eat people, so... good luck with that.=_

Good luck, he said. Just looking at the beast told her that he was strong, undoubtedly stronger than she was. Matt worked on the street level and probably hadn't fought anyone stronger than the Kingpin. This thing looked like it could tear Fisk limb from limb with ease.

The Dragon Man roared and dashed right for them. It was fast; Janet was barely able to shrink down enough to avoid him before his massive fist barreled through the space she had only just previously been occupying.

Matt flipped out of the way and tossed one of the two batons he was holding in a pair of holsters on his thighs. The solid red stick sliced through the air and struck true in the center of its right temple, but didn't phase it at all. In fact, it didn't even notice he had thrown it. "Crap. Okay, got a plan?"

"Uh, no. Got any hidden powers no one knows about?"

"Not that I know of."

She sighed, then darted to her right to avoid the fireball that had just erupted from Dragon Man's maw. Wasting no time, she closed in an unleashed a volley of stings on its face and chest. The attack left a field of black singe marks when she struck true, but the monster was otherwise unharmed.

"This isn't working," Matt commented. He sprinted and scooped up his previously forgotten baton. "I have an idea. You can grow like Bill and Rita could, right?"

"Yeah," she answered, already starting to see where he was going with this. "But, I've only done it once." It had worked, but she never thought to practice growing in case she ever needed to do it again. A terrible oversight; one that was biting her in the ass.

"Focus up and do it again. I'll buy you some time."

She was seriously about to question how he planned on doing that when she realized he had vanished into thin air. He was just standing there a second ago, then he was gone. "Where the hell did he—" She was cut off by Dragon Man roaring and swatting at thin air. She frowned, completely confused. Then, she just barely spotted a red blur dancing around him. "Holy shit."

She had heard that Daredevil was ultra fast for a supposedly "normal" human. Danny told her that he once dodged a sniper bullet after somehow sensing that it was only a foot away from his face. She didn't believe him at the time, but now she was a believer.

 _Okay, Jan. You can do this!_ She breathed in slowly and waited for Matt's opening. _There!_ She noticed that there was a zipline being tied around Dragon Man's legs. She zipped forward, reaching her full speed before forcing herself to grow. She was close to twenty feet tall by the time she collided with Dragon Man like a fabulous wrecking ball.

The beast was sandwiched between her girth and the hard floor.

"Eat this!" she yelled as she jammed her fist into his mouth. She let loose a wasp sting that punched clean through its skull and transpierced the palace by a good sixty feet. "Hell yeah! We did it!" She shrunk down so she could high five Matt without killing him.

 _=Tsk. You can't even make good help these days.=_

"Sounds like a personal problem. Now, let us go or we'll find you and kick the shit out of you." If she was being honest, she really hoped he picked her second option. Ever since _that_ moment between them at the sentinel factory, she had been resenting him. Even if the whole thing was her idea – one that actually worked better than she thought it would – she had this animosity toward him. Maybe she was projecting her own guilt, shame, and self-loathing onto him, but all she knew was that she wanted to punch his face in.

 _=Hm. Let's go with option two.=_

She smirked. "Perf—"

Suddenly, a swirling, dark green vortex overcame them. They had no chance or time to try and escape before they were whisked away, teleported to another part of the palace.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

Tony and Carol had better luck with their hidden tunnels than Matt and Janet did. Both able to fly, they tried to escape the way they came in, only to find the opening sealed shut by adamantium plates. _Great._

Tony was the first out of his tunnel, followed closely by Carol. They appeared to be in a garden area of some kind. It reminding him a lot of the new botanical garden in Avengers Tower. He still couldn't believe that Pepper agreed to go along with that. He thought for sure that she would say that it was too much and completely unnecessary, but she actually liked the idea.

"Your friend is really working my nerves," Carol grumbled bitterly.

"So, he's _my_ friend when he's being an asshole, huh?" He shook his head and looked around. The plants were beautiful, he had to admit. He wasn't much of a gardener – didn't have the patience for it – but he did have an eye for beauty. And, evidently, Gene still did, as well.

"Yeah, that's right. Where are we anyway?"

"Not sure. Appears we're in some kind of area designed to house plants of some manner."

"You know what I meant."

He smirked. "Yeah, yeah. Jo, scan the area for traps, cameras, and the like."

It was a few moments before Jocasta responded. _"Scan complete. I detected no traps of any kind, but there are several cameras. The exit is up ahead in the left hand corner."_

"So, he's watching us. That's not good," he noted. There was little doubt why they were there – Gene was planning on throwing something at them. What that something was remained to be seen, but he already knew that it was going to be neither good nor fun.

They briskly walked through the exit and into the next area. "Just to clarify, you were talking about Gene and not Cap, right?"

Whatever glum scowl she had been wearing evaporated in a ripple of laughter. "I didn't laugh. And I'm telling him you said that."

He smiled and shrugged. "Nothing I haven't said to his face before."

"Hey, look... I know I said this before, but I'm really glad you guys patched things up. I know you guys are really tight, so when you guys weren't on speaking terms, it—"

"Sucked. Yeah." It killed him for weeks. Everything about that saga with Barnes and Steve killed him. Knowing that Steve kept that from him for a year while waiting for his friend to, at the very least, pick up a phone and call him to tell him about his parents sucked more the more he thought about it. "I don't think a day went by where he didn't at least try to apologize."

For two weeks straight, Steve tried to talk to him. At least he knew he fucked up and made the effort to work things out. When they _did_ eventually sit down and talk, Tony forgave him under the caveat that they never bring it up again. Once it was done, it was done. The same went for Barnes when he eventually worked up the nerve to talk to him face to face a few months after that.

Tony wasn't one to dwell on the past – at least when it came to people's transgressions against him. Once he moved past something, he forgot about it in the sense that he wouldn't bring it up again on purpose. He wasn't the petty type to bring up things people did years and years ago just to make them feel bad. Those people were shitheads.

"Yeah, I tried to get him to give you some space, but he kept saying that 'Tony needs to know I'm sorry'."

"That literally sounds like something he would say."

She grew quiet for a second. When he glanced at her, he saw her frowning at him. "Never told you this, but I'm sorry about your parents."

He shrugged it off. "Thanks, but..." He shrugged again. "Honestly, I'm only sad about Mom. Dad being beat—killed doesn't change the fact that he was a shit father. If it never happened, nothing would have changed. He was an ass when I last saw him, and he would have still been an ass." _But, he was still Dad, and I guess he did care about me. Somewhat. Enough to call me his greatest creation._ "Since we're divulging things we never told other people, I never told Steve that I remember how he talked to Peggy."

He noticed her flinch, but didn't get a reply.

"He was real shitty to her. Always talked bad about her when she wasn't there. Called her a bad influence, a bitch, everything under the sun."

"Why didn't you tell Steve?"

He shrugged for a third time. "Guess I didn't want to remember it? Guess I didn't want to sully Steve's image of the guy? He only knew Howard Stark from WWII. The Howard Stark _I_ grew up with might as well have been a completely different person. His obsession got to him."

"Obsession? With finding Steve?"

"With finding the space gem." A cold chill swept through the silent corridor they were walking through.

Back then, it was called the Tesseract and no one on Earth knew anything about infinity gems, Thanos, or even knew that aliens existed. If he even fathomed what he was looking for, he would have left it in the ocean where it belonged. At least that was what Tony liked to believe. "That was why Hydra killed him. He was getting too close to finding it. I guess they wanted it for themselves. Mom was in the wrong place at the wrong time." He hated that his voice cracked every time he mentioned his mother.

Carol seemed to notice. "Well, we should be coming up on whatever Khan has in store for us." They exited the corridor into a wide open area. Outside of the two dozen gray stone pillars erected between the bronze ceiling and stone floor, it was empty.

That was until Tony noticed there were diminutive statues – no tall than four feet tall – between each pillar. "Jo?"

Jocasta took a moment to scan the area, plus the statues. _"The area is clean, but there is something peculiar about these statues. I detect some kind of energy around them, but I'm not sure what it is."_

"Magic?" Carol posited.

"Oh, god, no. Please."

A suave chuckle rippled through the air, echoing through the area. Suddenly, the opening behind them and the one in front of them sealed shut. A gray man in what appeared to be a gray full-body suit leaped down from somewhere above and landed between them and the opening ahead of them with a solid thud. It was immediately evident that he wasn't wearing a gray body suit, but was completely made of stone.

Dr. Paul Duval, the Grey Gargoyle, was a brilliant chemist who gave himself the ability to petrify anything when he touched it with his right hand. This included things like water and energy. "Imagine my surprise and delight," he spoke with a thick French accent, "when Mandarin contacted me a short time ago and informed me that you were here. Long have I desired to meet you face to face."

That wasn't the first time Tony had heard that from a villain, and it wouldn't be the last time. Though, unless he was mistaken, he had faced off with Duval in the past, during his solo career before joining the Avengers.

"With your beautiful eyes," Duval continued, "soft, luscious lips, your succulent curves, and your legs that simply stretch for miles. Captain America doesn't know what to do with a woman like you."

Tony was utterly and completely confused with all of that until he finished, at which point his shoulders slumped. "Oh. You're talking to her."

"Hm? Oh! Iron Man, you're here, as well."

"Yes, of course I'm here!"

"This is perfect! Your head will fetch a fine price on the black market. Certainly enough to treat a lovely creature like Ms. Marvel to a night of fine dining, and exquisite love making."

"Yeah, there's no way in any circle of hell that I'm doing anything with you."

"But, why not? I'm more of a man than Rogers can ever dream of being. Just give me a chance."

Tony and Carol could only shake their heads. There was very little that was worse than a man who resorted to begging when he was rejected. "Yeah, we're done here." He fired a missile. It struck true, but only managed to leave a sizable singe mark on his chest. "Stay out of close range. He can turn anything to stone."

"Got it."

According to SHIELD's files, Duval had enhanced strength and durability in his stone form, but that was it. His speed, reflexes, and endurance were all normal. Plus, he was about as inexperienced a fighter as it got. All signs leading to him getting his ass kicked by two fliers with ranged attacks.

What ensued was a very quick, very merciless fight that was undoubtedly motivated by Duval's earlier attempt to woo Carol. She swooped in a speed faster than Duval could think, much less move, and smashed her fist into his jaw. He flew back, landing and skidding on his back until he smacked into the stone wall sealing the opening behind him.

She wasted no time and blasted him into submission, leaving him unconsciousness in a ten feet deep crater. "Hmph." She dusted her hands off and turned back to Tony. "Wonder if I should tell Steve this guy hit on me."

He snickered. "Only if you make him think you were considering it."

"Nah, I can't do my guy like that."

He laughed and stepped over Duval's motionless body and into the next corridor that had been unblocked during Carol's onslaught. "Jan, I hope you aren't playing hide the zucchini with Gene." There was no reply from her comm. "Christ. Is she really?"

 _=She actually isn't,=_ Gene answered from an hidden speaker. _=Although, she and Murdock are a little... preoccupied to answer. Isn't that right, my dear?=_

 _=TONY, HELP!=_

Tony felt his blood run cold. Janet sounded like she was in immense pain. "Gene, what have you done?!"

 _=Oh, just decided to dust off the old martial arts. You can't imagine how useful heroes are as heavy bags.=_ Suddenly, he heard what sounded like something solid being snapped clean in half, followed by Matt's blood-curdling scream. _=You two had better hurry. I may just get a little carried away and kill these two before I can make you watch.=_

Mandarin's sinister laugh echoed through the hall.

It was suddenly very hard to breathe. The air felt like he was standing in the middle of a sauna. A sharp pain jolted through his chest. He barely managed to make it to a wall before he collapsed. "Tony, just breathe."

"I can't... I have to find her. Jo, where... where is she?"

Jocasta took too long to answer. His sensors detected that Carol was rubbing his back. A gesture that made her feel that she was helping, undoubtedly, so he let her continue. " _One hundred meters straight down._

"I got it." Carol rose into the air, then crashed through the floor. Enveloping her hands in photonic energy, she burrowed through the palace like a human-sized drill.

Tony was right behind her, but he was moving on autopilot. Even though she was more than capable as a hero, he couldn't stop seeing her as that scared heiress from years ago when he and Steve questioned her about Hank's and Scott's kidnapping. He couldn't stop thinking that it was his responsibility to keep her safe, even though she was more than able to care for herself.

Part of him was dreading what he was going to find when they finally reached where Gene was at. Gene, from what he had been told, was a monster at hand-to-hand combat. Frighteningly fast and surprisingly strong for a guy who seemingly relied completely on his rings when fighting. If that was even partially true, Janet and Matt were in deep trouble. From the sound and screaming he heard moments ago, exactly that was the case.

Carol burst through one last floor, showering Gene in debris and rubble.

"KHAN!" Tony roared as he slammed into him and drove him into the far wall.

" _Sir, Wasp and Daredevil have both suffered multiple contusions, broken limbs, and Daredevil has a severe concussion."_

"Damn it. Jan!" He turned to look in her direction. Carol was kneeling beside her, trying to rouse her to consciousness. She wasn't moving. "Gene, what have you done?!"

Gene chuckled and blurred his hand forward. Tony felt a sudden and sharp pain in his chest, right below his shoulder. "I'd worry about myself if I were you." His jerked his hand free; Tony noticed that three of his fingers were completely covered in blood. Before he could react, Gene struck him three more times.

Tony stumbled back, even as Gene was closing in on him. Five more blows landed, leaving deep dents in his armor. He might as well have been wearing aluminum for as much protection as it provided.

"Tony!"

Mandarin nimbly flipped out of the way of an incoming Carol. While she was recovering from her miss, he fired a beam from Liar, the very same ring that triggered Tony's PTSD so many years ago and left him practically comatose. The beam struck true and dropped her like a stone in a pond. "Carol?!"

"Don't worry about her. I just gave her a little dose of mental paralysis. She won't be bothering us for a little while." Gene smirked and stepped toward him.

He was in a tough spot. He was alone and Gene had proven capable of damaging his armor. If he managed to pierce the arc reactor, there was little doubt that he was going to kill him. "Jo, analyze his fighting style, ASAP."

" _Got it, sir."_

Gene charged in, a barely perceptible blur, and launched a frenzy of palm strikes. Tony's armor was tough, but even Iron Man had its breaking point. That point came much more quickly than he would have liked, as Gene's strikes were landing true and tearing pieces of the armor off. The nanomachines in his body were working overtime to repair the damage, but there was only so much they could do before he had to back away and regroup.

" _Analysis complete, sir."_

Gene's fist blurred in for what appeared to be the finishing blow. Tony's hand jerked up and caught it by the wrist. "Let's kick some ass."

With Gene's movements recorded in the suit, Tony knew what he was going to do based on body positioning and previous tendencies. He hated to admit it, but he stole the idea from Ultron. When Danny reported that he was able to counter his martial arts so easily, Tony got curious and sought to figure out how to incorporate that into his own suit. Currently, Tony's body was basically reacting on its own based on cues provided by Gene moments before the move Tony was countering even happened. This allowed him to slip behind Gene's guard with ease to tag him with devastating blows that kept him off balance. Combined with timely repulsor rays, and Gene suddenly couldn't get into position to throw a punch, much less land one.

Tony finished his assault with a powerful blast from his chest RT that left Gene embedded in the wall behind him.

" _Sir, I'm detecting electrostatic reactions from Mandarin's power rings whenever he uses one of them."_

"Well, that's interesting. Prepare an EMP and fire on my command." That made perfect sense. Even if the rings weren't like anything on Earth, they were still technology. Technology that it seemed Gene failed to protect against EMP.

" _Yes, sir."_

Gene pushed himself free of the wall and fell to his knees. "I... I don't know what changed," he snarled with notable difficulty, "but you won't win." He grinned sadistically and activated Liar once again. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he planned on doing. The psionic blockers he installed in his helmet provided just enough protection from the attempts to trigger his PTSD again.

" _EMP ready."_

"Fire."

Before, his EMP was in the form of a blast. This time, it was a wave of electromagnetic energy, shorting out any and every piece of technology not associated with the Iron Man armor instantly. Including Gene's rings.

"What?!"

Tony smirked. "Light's out, Gene." He blasted him with the chest RT one more time, sending him flying through the wall and landing in a pile of rubble. "Phew. Good work, Jo." He strode cautiously toward the hole, in case Gene was neither down nor out. He wasn't down or out; he was gone, vanished without a trace. "Goddamn it. Again."

Mandarin had suffered a humiliating defeat, but not without carving out his chunk of flesh beforehand. Carol, in all likelihood, would be on her feet shortly after Gene's rings were shut down. Janet and Matt were down for the count, and would be until Danny could heal them.

Tony was about to contact the quinjet to have it swing around and be ready to takeoff as soon as they got to the surface when Coulson radioed in. "Wrap it up, Stark. Just got word from the X-Mansion. Masters of Evil just kidnapped Jean Grey."

There was only one thing to say. "Shit."


	10. A Brazen Tactic

_**A/N:** Here's another chapter for you guys. Please enjoy and don't forget to leave a review :)_

 _ **A Brazen Tactic**_

 _ **Xavier's School For Gifted Youngters**_

 _ **7:15 AM**_

 _The morning after the attack on the SHIELD helicarrier, the world continued to spin on as it always had. Life didn't miss a beat for those that were blissfully unaware of what was happening beyond their own personal bubble. This included the inhabitants of the X-Mansion. For them, it was the cusp of yet another school day._

 _Dr. Jean Grey-Summers was sitting behind the desk of her classroom, going over the lesson plans for her classes that day. She knew that her husband joined the taskforce that Coulson put together the night before, along with Bobby, Logan, and Ororo. Even though she declined almost immediately, that didn't stop her from worrying about what Doom was up to. He, more than anyone else other than Magneto, had the ambition and the will to change the world however he saw fit._

 _It was too bad his world vision was almost invariably bad for mutants._

 _There was a timid knock on her door. "Come in." The door opened and a small Japanese girl stepped inside. Jean smiled as she watched her walk over to her desk, clutching a notebook tightly to her chest. "Good morning, Kiyoko."_

" _Good morning, Dr. Summers. I keep having trouble with these conjugations."_

" _Well, let's see what we have." Jean taught English and Grammar, as well as Health with the older students. Soto Kiyoko was an empath Professor Xavier found in Tokyo. The X-Men found her in her closet, traumatized after accidentally reading the emotions of a man who had just been stabbed to death. It was because of that that Jean felt a connection with the girl._

 _She was going over verb tenses with her when there was a terrible explosion on the other side of the school. "What the –" There was another explosion nearby, blowing out the five windows to her right. She and Kiyoko fell to the floor and had to cover their heads to keep from being cut up from the jagged pieces of glass. "Stay down."_

 _She rose to her feet in time to be grabbed by a pair of doombots. "Get off of me!" She crushed one with her telekinesis, and would have done the same to the second had it not attached some kind of device to her wrist. It send an electrical pulse through her body, paralyzing her and quickly rendering her unconscious._

" _Dr. Summers!"_

" _Target acquired." The doombot hoisted Jean over its shoulder and flew out of one of the broken windows._

* * *

Word of Jean's kidnapping spread quickly. It wasn't long before news of it reached Coulson. He, understandably, wasn't pleased. Though, his reaction was pleasant compared to her Scott's. "We're wasting time, Coulson!" he yelled.

From the moment he learned that his wife had been taken and the school attacked, he insisted on going to Castle Doom and getting her back. Coulson was understandably hesitant to just barge into Latveria blindly. Doom was going to be a tough fight when they had time to prepare; going in with only a few minutes to think about anything resembling a strategy was just asking to get their asses handed to them. "I know that. But, we can't just go over there half-cocked. We do and whatever team we send over there is going to get slaughtered."

"Doom's castle is teeming with supervillains, supersoldiers, and god knows what else, Summers," May added to back him up. "We know you want your wife back, but you do her no good if you're dead."

Despite how badly he wanted to disagree, the tactician in him couldn't find a point to argue. "Fine." He marched off, likely to go cool off.

Coulson sighed and started to pack up his equipment. "Stark radioed in a few minutes ago to fill me in. Turns out it wasn't Mandarin is Atlantis, but Loki disguised as him." He didn't have to be facing him to know that Clint was as rigid and tense as a statue. "Pack up. We're moving to the Sanctum Sanctorum. I already spoke with Dr. Strange and he gave us the nod."

It was a general consensus that no one actually liked being inside Strange's home. While they understood that it was the nexus of all the magical energies on the planet Earth – and thus was the best place to house all of Strange's artifacts, trinkets, baubles, and the like – that did little to make it seem more of a home and less of a haunted house.

As the agents gathered and packed their equipment, Ororo left to find Scott. She eventually found him on the roof, standing by the ledge and looking down at the street below. She knew it couldn't have been as relaxing as looking up into the clear blue sky, but to each his own. "Scott? We will be moving to the Sanctum Sanctorum shortly."

He sighed heavily. "Did they say why?"

"Loki was in Atlantis posing as the Mandarin. I suppose Coulson wants a sorcerer to counter a sorcerer."

"Makes sense."

She stepped up to him and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We will get Jean back. I promise."

"I know," he said eventually. "That's not what I'm worried about. I'm afraid of what he wants her for."

"Do you believe he wants to try and steal the Phoenix Force?"

"I wouldn't put it past him." He stood straight and turned to face her. "Doom knows what he's getting himself into by taking Jean. He isn't an idiot. There's more to this than simple power-jacking." What that was was anyone's guess, but one thing was clear: it wasn't going to end well.

For anyone.

* * *

 **Castle Doom**

Jean came to a few hours later. She groaned and tried to rub her aching head, only to find that both her arms were chained to the floor. "What the hell?" She was in a cell, cold and damp with large stone blocks making up the walls, ceiling, and floor. Thick iron bars were the only things separating her from freedom. She reached her hand out to yank the door from its foundation.

Nothing happened.

Her breath caught in her throat as she tried – and failed – again. "What is happening? Hello? Hello?!"

Doctor Doom rounded the corner and stopped a few feet in front of her cell. "Ah, so you're finally awake."

She gingerly rose to her feet, a fierce glare set on the emerald clad villain. "What the hell do you want?"

"No hello?" He chuckled softly, seemingly undeterred by her hostility. "I suppose I will get straight to the point. I am going to offer you to a higher power. A tribute or sacrifice of sorts. I have little doubt you will survive the ordeal, but by the time you return to this realm, your opportunity at revenge will have long since closed."

She swallowed nervously, but put on a defiant face. "And if I say no?"

"I will kill everyone in at Xavier's school. Starting with your daughter, your son, and your husband. Or, perhaps I will save them for last. Yes, the Summers clan will be last." He watched her to gauge her reaction. When her expression never wavered, he sighed. "I forgot, death means nothing to you people."

She smirked. "You're damn right."

"Be that as it may, your fate is inevitable. You play a very small, but very important role in my rise to ultimate power and I will not allow anyone, not even the almighty Phoenix, to derail my ascension. Your acceptance or denial of what has been foreordained is irrelevant."

"Then why did you even bother telling me?"

"To gauge your reaction, and to see if what I determined about you is true."

"And?"

"And yes, you truly _are_ afraid of your power."

That gave Jean pause. "What are you talking about?"

"You wish to escape, yes; and yet, you have done nothing to provide yourself with a means to escape. To my knowledge, the Phoenix cannot be stifled by a mere mutant power nullifier, and yet, here you remain. Were you truly worthy of such incalculable power, I would be a mere memory, like the Kree accuser."

Jean didn't respond, because he was right. In truth, the Phoenix's power terrified her because she had seen firsthand just what it was capable of. Not just with Ronan and the Kree, but with the Shiar when it wiped out their entire star system when D'Ken wouldn't cooperate with it. Even if Doom was right – she did have the power to escape and make him pay for even thinking about taking her – there was never a guarantee that Phoenix would allow itself to be shackled again.

Doom knew that, and that was why he felt comfortable with pawning her off for power or whatever it was that he wanted.

He turned to leave.

"You don't understand!" she yelled after. Her teeth gritted together. "You don't know what it's like to have this power lurking inside you. You don't know what it means to constantly keep from feeling too much or exerting too much every single day. Knowing that just one slip and poof, there goes the planet. There goes the galaxy. There goes the goddamned universe." Her face dropped into a haggard grimace as she considered him. "You're damn right I'm afraid of this power. If you had it, you would be, too."

Doom watched her slide down the wall until she was sitting back where she started. "That, Dr. Grey, is where you and I differ."

With that, he turned and left.


	11. A Pleasant Day in Murderworld

_**A Pleasant Day in Murderworld**_

 **Sanctum Sanctorum**

"God, I hate this place so much," Tony muttered as he and Carol found a place to sit in the living room after finally making it back from the Valley of Shadows. As long as he lived, Tony would have been happy to never return to that hellhole.

He was wrong about Gene. He was so wrong, it actually scared him. For some reason or another, he got it in his head that Gene was still the care-free playboy he was when they went to MIT together all those years ago. Back then, the only thing they fought over was who was taking the buxom blonde girl in the short red dress home. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine fighting for his life.

His hand idly touched the bandage that covered the three puncture wounds just below his shoulder. It shouldn't have been possible. There shouldn't have been any way he would have punch his fingers through gold-titanium alloy, reinforced to weather hits from the likes of She-Hulk. It just... shouldn't have been possible. Yet, the impossible had been happening on a consistent basis for the last several years, with no signs of quitting while it was ahead. It was too the point that the word impossible had lost all meaning.

"Apologies, Mr. Stark," Dr. Strange said rather sardonically as he literally floated toward them. "If all goes well with your next mission, you all won't be here for long."

"Why do I get the feeling you'll be kicking us out regardless?" Carol inquired, cutting her eyes toward at a woman talking to Wong in the hall. The woman was dressed in a purple and black top with black pants and purple boots. She had long white hair, but couldn't be any older than forty. They were too far to know for sure, but it appeared that there was some kind of floral pattern on her outfit. Roses from what it looked like.

Strange cleared his throat, hoping that the warmth creeping across his cheeks wasn't too noticeable. "Well, no. The import of our current predicament outweighs my and Clea's, um..."

"Date night?" Tony finished with a sly grin.

Strange kept his lips sealed out of fear of embarrassing himself. There were times when silence was a perfectly acceptable and powerful answer; this was not one of those times.

"I have to say," Tony said as he glanced at Clea again, "you can certainly do a lot worse."

"I'm well aware." Strange was quick to take his leave, leaving Carol and Tony laughing between themselves.

"A sight I didn't think I'd ever see," Natasha remarked as she walked up to them. "You two actually getting along."

"You know I had my brain shutdown at Mandarin's palace, right? This is a consequence of that," Carol answered with only a hint of the bitter grimace she was holding inwardly.

Tony rolled his eyes, though he caught the bitterness, as did Natasha. "Sure. Just admit you like me so we can move on, Danvers."

"We had one heart to heart, Stark. That's not enough for the years of ridicule you've besieged me with."

"Ridicule?"

"You making fun of me for actually paying attention to Rhodey." She folded her arms and crossed her legs, daring him to deny it.

He couldn't. "Alright, so maybe I poked a tiny bit of fun at you."

"Tiny, he says."

"Alright, team, listen up," Coulson spoke over the various conversations taking place around the living room and the adjacent hallway. "I just finished talking with Professor Xavier about the best course to take with Jean's kidnapping. I want seven of you to team with Cyclops and infiltrate Castle Doom to get her back. I know the place is crawling with supervillains and fuck knows what else, and that's why I want Rambeau to go."

She nodded and stood up from her seat by the fireplace. "You got it."

"When you finish assembling the team, talk with Black Widow in the briefing room for briefing."

After several minutes of deliberation, they decided on the team – Cyclops, Spectrum, Wolverine, Hawkeye, Mr. Fantastic, Storm, Black Widow, and Iceman. They filed out of the living room and stepped into the room that had very crudely been labeled as the briefing room. There they found none other than Yelena Belova looking intently at a SHIELD laptop.

"What the fuck?" Clint looked at the blonde spy, then stared incredulously at her redheaded namesake. "Is _this_ what the hell you meant by Belova going straight?!"

Natasha's expression was the picture of innocence. "Of course, Barton. What else could I have meant?" She smirked and sidled up next to her ward. "Is the secret way into Doom's castle still functional?"

"Da." She placed a small holographic projector on the table in front of her and turned it on. A translucent green image of Castle Doom filled the space between her and the team. "There is little doubt that Doom knows you're coming, so the only way to infiltrate the castle without wading through thousands of doombots may be sealed. If it is, I have little doubt that the majority of you can play distraction while one or two find Grey undetected.

"But, in case Doom committed a critical oversight, your entry point is here." She paused to highlight an opening in the rear of the castle. "Dr. Strange has already noted that you will be using his teleportation device to travel directly into Latveria. From there, it's up to you to determine the best and safest means of entry. I should remind you that it's imperative that you get in and get out as quickly as possible. We currently are unaware of how many other supervillains are in Doom's employ, but err on the side of caution.

"One last thing. Professor Xavier suspects that Grey's powers were nullified with the stolen mutant power nullifier, so mutants should exercise caution in case he managed to replicate it on short notice. Questions?"

"Yeah," Bobby spoke up, "what's up with that? Does SHIELD really mistrust us _that_ much?"

"Questions pertaining to the mission," Yelena responded flatly.

He rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

"Very well, then move—" She stopped when Clea abruptly walked inside. "Yes, Clea?"

When she answered, she spoke with urgency lacing her satiny voice. "I do not mean to intrude, but I fear that there is a matter that I must bring to your attention before you depart. Stephen and I both have just detected a sudden trace of dark magic that has suddenly permeated the air around us. We do not know what purpose it serves, but it lurks about like a creature in the night, waiting for the right moment to strike. I would suggest you depart immediately, so that you may not fall prey to its trap."

That was certainly disconcerting. Monica, Natasha, and Clint knew from their experiences with Amora the Enchantress that magic wasn't anything to take lightly. The fact that it was _dark_ magic that Strange and Clea senses only made them more apprehensive. "Thank you, Clea," Scott said with a thankful nod. "We better leave now in that case. Is whatever this teleportation device Dr. Strange has ready?"

"It is. Right this way."

* * *

 **Castle Doom**

"Baron Mordo," Doom called out. "Is your enchantment ready? Coulson's heroes will likely be here shortly and I would hate to be ill-prepared."

Baron Mordo, a former student of the Ancient One – the same being who training Dr. Strange in the ways of mystic arts, nodded affirmatively. "You have no need to worry, Doctor. The enchantment has been ready for twenty minutes, waiting to strike." The dark-skinned sorcerer was clad in green with black accents and green boots. His ornate, two-toned cape was black on the outside and black on the inside.

Loki scoffed and laughed haughtily. "An infant could have cast a better spell. The heroes have detected _your_ magic and now know that something is amiss."

Mordo huffed indignantly. "Hmph! There is no way the heroes know the true purpose of the enchantment! I would stake my life on it."

"Be careful what you wager," he warned smoothly as he slithered around him like an emerald serpent. "We have enjoyed much fortune heretofore. It would be most unfortunate if our fortunes were to take an... ill-fated turn due to your misplaced confidence in your rudimentary sorcery."

"Loki, leave the good Baron alone," Amora purred as she wrapped her sinewy arms around the god of mischief. "What does it matter if the heroes suspect? They will still be ensnared by the trap. And once they have, the good doctor will proceed with the next phase of the plan. Is that not what we all want? Hm?"

Loki curled his lips into an annoyed moue. "Hmph. I suppose."

The team, led by an anxious Scott, gathered around Strange's orb of teleportation in preparation for their instant departure. The orb in question was the size of a basketball and a cloudy white in color. When it was activated, a bright purple light erupted from the center and enveloped the eight heroes.

It was then, at that exact moment, that Mordo's mysterious incantation sprung into action.

The purple light faded, revealing that only half of the team was gone. Bobby, Ororo, Logan, and Reed were still standing next to Strange. "What the hell?"

Stephen pounded his fist against the table the orb was resting on in frustration. "Mordo! I should have seen this coming."

"You could not have known, Stephen," Clea said in an attempt to calm him down.

"This is strange," Reed pondered, either not noticing the pun or not caring. "Stephen, could this be the result of the presence that you and Clea detected?"

"There is no doubt about it. Mordo must be working with Doctor Doom. If that is the case, that gives them three master sorcerers on their side." He sighed and moved away from the orb. "We must find where the others were sent. I have no doubt that wherever they are, it's less than pleasant." He walked away briskly to, they assumed, find the necessary tools to fix the orb.

"I'm don't profess to know anything about magic," Reed continued. "But, if this spell has been waiting at least this long, then the only logical conclusion is that Doom knew that we would figure out that he was keeping Jean in his castle; or at the very least suspect such. Whatever he's planning is of such a nature that he can't afford for us to divert his attention away from it for however long a confrontation between the two parties would last."

"Then, it's imperative that we find another way into Castle Doom," Coulson resolved. His voice was tight with restrained frustration. Everything seemed to be falling apart. Doom was two, three steps ahead of them and had been from the beginning. Whatever victory they secured was superficial at best. He thought back to something Fury told him years ago. _"Doom's the most impressive son of a bitch I've ever met. The bastard can take over the world in a day and give it back the next because he got bored. He's the most dangerous kind of villain there is, because to him, world domination is just another day."_

He was right, more than he could have possibly known. Or, maybe he did know. The well of knowledge Fury possessed was limitless, it seemed. Nothing academic; just very intuitive.

"Coulson," Daisy called out to him. "We can't get in touch with Summers or anyone on his team. Wherever they are, comms are dead."

"Of course they are. It just can't be easy for once."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is," May intoned.

"Spare me the philosophy, May. I have four heroes missing, sent to God knows where with God knows what waiting for them, and that metal asshole just fucked off with one of the most powerful people in the entire universe. This can't possibly get any worse, even if Doom tried his damnedest to make it so."

May gave him a placating look. "So much for looking on the bright side."

"I don't have time to look at bright sides. I need to look at results. Preferably ones that are in our favor."

"You're in luck," Daisy spoke from behind her laptop. "I think I just tracked where our wayward heroes are."

"Well?"

She sighed heavily. "You're not gonna like it, boss." When he raised his eyebrows expectantly, she sighed again. "Murderworld."

"Are you— are you joking? Of all places, why there?"

Steve, who was silently pondering over everything that had happened in the last few minutes, frowned confusedly. "Wait, what's Murderworld?"

"It is equal parts amusement park and death camp," Ororo answered. "It is run by a psychopath named Arcade, who takes great pleasure in watching people attempt to traverse his twisted carnival before eventually falling prey to one death trap or another. The X-Men have faced him many times before. Despite his... unassuming appearance, behind the faux innocence is the mind of a serial killer. If Scott and the others indeed trapped there, then there is a very strong possibility that they may not make it back."

"Storm, please don't say that," Sue pleaded in a hushed voice. "We'll get them back. Does anyone know where this Murderworld place is?"

"Antarctica," Daisy answered. "But, good luck getting inside. Unless Arcade "invites" you himself, it's nearly impossible to infiltrate. It has defense measure out the ass. It's practically more secure than Fort Knox."

Tony stood from the sofa he and Carol had been sitting on and walking to stand beside Steve. "I'm not just gonna leave Clint and Natasha in some death trap just because it's "too hard" to get into. I mean, have you met me? There's no way I can't find some way into this place."

"Far be it for me to try and stop you. If you think you can, go for it."

"Stark, take a team with you and head to Antarctica. Do whatever you have to to get in, even if you have to blow a hole in the damn thing." Coulson paused to think it over for a moment. "Matter of fact, just blow a hole in the damn thing. Save someone else in the future the grief."

Tony clapped his hands together. "Alright. Who wants to go on a field trip?"

* * *

 **Twenty Minutes Later**

Clint and Natasha sprinted at full speed around a red and white striped tent, taking care not to get tripped up on the ropes that were nailed at each corner to keep it upright. As soon as they arrived in Murderworld, they were attacked by a group of seemingly innocuous clowns. They were about to ask for help when one of them threw a serrated buzzsaw at them. From that moment forward, every clown they came across immediately tried to disembowel them in one manner or another. Some threw more of the serrated buzzsaws, others fired balls of condensed poison at them. No matter the means of intended murder, their lives were in danger from the get-go.

At some point, they became separated. Clint and Natasha went one way, Scott another. Monica disappeared in a flash of light. This place was dangerous enough for the two spies; they couldn't imagine the hard time Scott was having by himself. As terrible as it was to consider, though, they couldn't worry too much about him. Any amount of attention diverted away from escaping the horde of killer Pennywise impersonators could have meant their deaths.

"Come 'ere, kids!" one of the clowns chasing them called out, followed by a silly, goofy laugh that was quickly going to become the new subject of their nightmares.

They slid to a stop when they came up to a row of claw games that served as a dead-end to assess the situation. There were four clown, around the same size, except for one who was about a foot taller than the rest. With practiced ease, Clint grabbed an incendiary arrow from his quad-quiver – a quiver that could hold four times as many arrows as a normal quiver – and fired it into the ground in the center of the group. They were engulfed in flames. Their terrified, pained screams died shortly before they did.

"I really, _really_ hate clowns," Natasha growled.

Clint shrugged. "This isn't the first time a clown has tried to kill me, so at least I have experience."

"I'm just swimming in confidence all of a sudden," she replied dryly. "Look, we have to find Rambeau and Summers ASAP. I'm not too worried about Rambeau, but unless I missed something, Summers isn't much stronger than we are, and his optic blasts won't save him from whatever the fuck kind of death traps this shithole has."

Clint nodded and doubled back the way they came, Natasha hot on his heels. "The problem is we don't know where they could be. It's easy to get lost in a _normal_ amusement park; add in killer clowns, flowers that spit out poison gas, exploding teddy bears, and whatever else, and forget about it."

Monica groaned and rubbed her forehead. "Ah, shit. Where am I?" She looked around and immediately noticed that nothing looked like it was supposed to. Everything – the sky, the ground, her herself – looked pixelated and like it belonged in one of those super old-fashioned video games from back in the day. "Hello?!"

A sinister laugh echoed through the landscape. "Well, hello there, Spectrum. How nice of you to finally wake up. Now the fun can really begin!"

It was a man, that much was obvious. He seemed to know her – or at least knew of her; she didn't recognize his voice, but something about it sent a chill up her spine. "Who are you? Where the hell am I?!"

He cackled again. "Name's Arcade. And as for where you are, well, you are inside my latest creation. Pitfall!"

Pitfall? She remembered playing that with her uncle on his Atari 2600 when she was a little girl. That was over twenty-five years ago. "Uh, hate to break it to ya, 'Arcade', but that game's been around since the 80s. Nice try, though."

He chuckled, as if amused by some nonsense saying of a child. "Oh, but of course. _This_ version is never before seen. You see, you're actually _in_ the game. As in, _you_ are player one. Every pitfall you encounter can very much kill you. You'll keep dying until I get bored, and then you die for good. Sound fun?"

She scoffed, annoyed by this entire affair. "Whatever. This will be a breeze."

He laughed for a third time, this one just as spine-tingling as the first. "Whatever you say. Ready, Player One? Go!"

She smirked and shifted into her light form. Or, she tried to. Nothing happened. "Wait, what?"

"Oops. Did I forget to mention that your powers don't work in this world? No cheating, after all."

Okay. This was not going to be as much of a breeze as she thought. She grunted and started forward. Immediately, she noticed that she was running only at half the speed she was normally capable of. She supposed this Arcade guy didn't want to make it too easy.

She leaped over what looked like a campfire, remembering that anything in her way could and would kill her. Back then, that meant she had to start the stage over again. This time, it meant that she was going to die. Even if she respawned, she sure as shit didn't want to experience death over and over again.

She came up to a blue patch of pixels with three green logs between her and the other side. The green logs, after a few seconds, opened up, revealing pitch black maws that meant game over if she was caught. "If I remember this right, I need to time my jumps for when they just closed their mouths."

She timed it somewhat close to perfectly and made it across just before they opened their jaws again. Without wasting a second, she kept moving, eventually coming across a seemingly clear path. There was only a green rope hanging down from above.

She knew that when she got close enough, the ground was going to open up a bottomless pit. Even though she knew approximately where she needed to jump, seeing it from first person point-of-view – as opposed to third-person like most platform games she played back then – skewed and threw off her timing. She ended up taking one step too many and fell headfirst into the bottomless pit. "NOOOOOO!"

She kept falling until the yellow stage she had been running on was just a tiny dot.

"Aw, poor little Spectrum. Did you have a nasty fall? AHAHAHAHAH!"

Her body ignited with excruciating pain as it was broken apart into trillions of pixels. Her screams echoed into the endless void until all that was left was a thick cloud of multicolored pixels that spiraled upward, back up to the starting point of the game.

She coalesced, mouth still yawned open and belting out a soundless scream. Completely respawned, she fell to her hands and knees, chest heaving as she gulped in artificial air. "You... son of a bitch."

Arcade chuckled derisively. "Oh, that was delightful, Spectrum! I suppose I should have mentioned that the respawning process hurts like a bitch, but it's just so much fun watching someone scream in agony after the first time!"

The fact that he was enjoying this so much was no surprise. She had encountered her fair share of sadists in her years in the hero game. The fact that it was _her_ pain that was getting him so excited terrified her. "I'm gonna get outta here," she snarled. "And when I do, my entire leg is going up your ass."

"Hoho, now that's the spirit."

Of all the places Scott thought he would have ended up when he got separated from the others, a grass maze was pretty low on the list. In hindsight, he should have seen something that this coming once they found out they were in the middle of an amusement park.

Danger lurked around every corner. Literally. There was some kind of death trap placed at every single corner he encountered. Whether it was a flower that spewed out some kind of poison gas, jack-in-the-boxes that sprang razor sharp buzzsaws, flame-throwers, some kind of giant rollers with giant spikes attached to them; the man that built this place – Arcade – was either really bored or had a sick sense of humor.

He also encountered small robots with buzzsaws for hands. They weren't a challenge one-on-one, but when they had him outnumbered, he realized that having his back sliced open was more painful than he remembered.

"Getting really tired of this."

"Hoohoohoo!" laughed someone on the other side of the maze wall to his left.

 _Great. More of those clowns._ He had been ducking them ever since he ended up by himself.

He heard two people grunting, as well as the sound of hard punches landing. "Watch your back, Clint," Natasha intoned cautiously. "Aaugh!"

"Nat!"

"Hey, come 'ere, kid."

Clint grunted and must have dropped his bow. "Let go of me, assholes! Wait, don't!"

Scott broke into a furious sprint to make it into the next row before the clowns managed to do whatever it was they wanted to do with Clint. He rounded the corner in time to see them tossing Clint into the rolling grinders. If he fell in, there was no way he was going to come out as anything other than ground beef. Without a second to waste, Scott did the first thing that came to mind and fired a wide-angle optic blast to push Clint into the bushes behind him. He followed this up with five rapid fire blasts that rendered the five clowns unconscious.

He helped Natasha to her feet, then went to help Clint. "Have I mentioned how much I hate the circus?"

Clint accepted his hand and let him help him to his feet. "No, but I wish you would've mentioned how much those laser beams hurt."

He smiled. "It was either that or let you learn what a meat grinder feels like."

"Fair enough. And thanks."

"Any sign of Rambeau?" Natasha inquired after reloading her glocks. "And do you know where the hell we are?"

He shook his head when asked about Monica. "Murderworld. It's an giant death trap built by a deranged lunatic named Arcade. The X-Men have tangled with him a few times. ...We've lost a few members because of him." He sighed and continued through the maze, with them close behind. "If we're here, Doom must seriously want some of us dead. Arcade doesn't come cheap."

Neither Avenger had ever heard of Arcade, but from their expressions, they understood how much danger they were all in. "But why us?" Clint asked, clearly referring to himself and Natasha. "Why not Reed, since he's Doom's biggest rival?"

"I'm not sure. I'm sure he wanted Monica out of the way, first and foremost, given how powerful she is. I guess the rest of us were in the wrong place at the wrong time." Even if that was true – and it likely was in Monica's case – why not send all eight of them to Murderworld, instead of only four? And why would Doom leave out his biggest rival and the one most likely to foil his plan, Reed Richards?

They made it through the maze with very little trouble. The trouble they found was handled quickly and relatively effortlessly. When they stepped through the other side, they found themselves standing at the mouth of a massive red and white big top tent, like the ones they held circuses in. "Who else is hoping Arcade is in there?" Clint wondered.

Even if neither answered, they knew that it would never be that easy.

Inside the big top, they found not Arcade, but an arcade. One arcade game labeled Pitfall. "Holy shit. That's the last thing I expected to see." Clint approached the old-fashioned arcade game and looked at the screen. His skin turned ghostly pale and his eyes grew into saucers when he saw what was happening. "Guys," he called out, voice hauntingly serious. "Monica's in this game."

"What?" Natasha ran up beside him to see for herself. "How is this possible?" They watched her jump over a rattlesnake to move onto the next stage. "How do we get her out?"

"Wanna bet she has to beat the game?" He noticed her using a vine to swing over a lake, then leap over the exploding gold bricks. "Come on, Moni. You can do it!"

While Clint watched and cheered Monica on, Natasha and Scott explored the big top to find out where to head next. It was devoid of life, except for them and a single robot clown standing behind a ticket counter.

"Over here." Natasha looked up and noticed Scott standing in front of a path labeled Pinball. "The only other way is blocked, so I guess we need to head this way next."

"Knowing this place, we're probably going to be the pinballs," Natasha muttered. Suddenly, the Pitfall game started to shake a white light erupted from the screen. After the light faded away and everyone regained their composure, they found Monica on her knees, breathing raggedly. "You need a minute, Rambeau?"

A rhetorical question. Anyone with working eyes could see that she did.

They wanted to give her time to get her mind right, but time was not something that was on their side. While Coulson was down only four, he was down one of his most powerful heroes. Exactly what Doom wanted. It was easier to focus on Thor alone when he didn't have to worry about Spectrum turning up to even the odds.

Clint helped her to her feet. "Alright, let's get a move on. The sooner we find this Arcade fuck, the sooner we can get the hell out of here."

" _Be careful what you wish for, Hawkeye. A meeting with me is just to die for!"_

Arcade's words shouldn't have sent a chill up their spines, as generic as they were, but they did. Maybe it was the excited, gleeful tone with which he said them, but whatever it was had them dreading actually meeting him.

They stepped through the doorway and braced themselves for everything imaginable. With this place – and considering what Monica had just gone through – there was no telling how this so-called pinball area would be laid out.

It was a giant pinball machine, complete with electrified bumpers, paddles that sent anything – or anyone – they hit flying to the other side of the machine, and pinballs that exploded on contact. It also had two villains in Doom's employ, Shocker and Rhino. They were sent there just in case Arcade's death traps weren't enough to kill off the heroes.

"Go to the circus, Doom said. It'll be fun, they said," Shocker grumbled irately. They had been standing there waiting in the middle of a giant, empty pinball machine for over two hours. "I missed out on going to Asgard for _this_ shit _._ "

"Hey, we're getting paid," Rhino retorted as reasonably as was possible for someone like him.

Shocker and Rhino were two long-time members of Spider-Man's rogue gallery and were two founding members of the Sinister Six. Like Mysterio, they both made the best business decision they had available to them when they joined up with Doom. They, when they made that decision, thought that it was going to make them both extremely powerful; or at the very least, extremely rich. They, like many of the lesser members, thought that they were going to be as rich as kings. When Doom asked them – more like ordered them – to go to Murderworld to help Arcade kill a few of the heroes following Coulson, they thought that they were just backup, that Arcade could handle it himself.

After two hours of standing around waiting, it was obvious that they weren't returning to Castle Doom.

"What a load of shit. You don't get it. We aren't getting paid, you idiot. We're going back to prison." He rubbed his forehead in a futile attempt to stave of the migraine that was certain to only get worse when the heroes got here. "How much ya wanna bet that dumbass Mordo sent Cyclops of all people here?"

"Double or nothing," Rhino answered.

It took Shocker a few moments to realize that he was serious. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"

Rhino would have answered, but stopped short when they heard talking coming from the entrance. Since the only other sounds were them talking at the random sounds every pinball machine made, the voices carried. "A fucking pinball machine!"

"What did you expect, Clint? The door said 'pinball' on it."

"I just... let's just get through this. I bet the balls explode."

"Probably."

"Get behind me."

And there he was. Cyclops. The last person Shocker wanted to see. He would rather fight Spider-Man one-on-one than face the man who's wife they kidnapped hours earlier. He could already feel the optic blast threatening to cave his chest in and the fight hadn't even started yet. "Hopefully this stupid place ices him before he can get he—"

His plea was cut off by a horribly loud energy discharge. A massive red beam, as big and wide as a tractor trailer and hundreds of times more destructive, swept through the pinball machine. Everything it touched was destroyed, reduced to splinters, scrap metal, and pieces of plastic. The two villains had to hit the deck to avoid the same being done to them.

When it was over, there was nothing left. In fact, the beam had blasted straight through the wall separating the pinball area from Arcade's control room. He could even see the redheaded bastard huddling in the corner.

"Well, well, well," they heard Natasha uttered as four sets of footsteps became louder with each passing second. "I guess Doom needed to trim the fat on his little entourage."

Rhino climbed to his feet and belted out a mighty roar. "Let's go, punks!" he snarled, sliding his foot back as if about to charge horn first. "When I'm done with you, there won't be enough of you to fill a—" With frightening speed, Scott slid in and used an optic blast to pop Rhino into the air. A second, much more powerful blast carried him through the ceiling, and didn't stop until he was clear out of the facility.

Shocker could only shake his head. He jumped to his feet and swung a haymaker at Scott. It was caught and his arm was broken at the elbow with a simple upward palm strike. "AAAGH!"

He was whipped to the ground, face first, with a knee planted into his spine to keep him in place. "Where is my wife?" Scott growled. A weak, but continuous beam shot out of his visor and struck the back of Shocker's head. "I won't ask again."

"I don't know!" The beam increased substantially in power. Any more and Shocker's skull would have caved in. "Alright! ALRIGHT! Doom took her to one of the Asgard realms. He said he wanted to offer her to whatever demon was in charge of the place in exchange for his sword."

Scott stopped the beam, but didn't ease off his back

"What demon?" Natasha inquired. "Did he offer a name for it or the realm?"

"Not the demon, but the realm place ended with -heim. He wanted the sword for when they went to Asgard. It sounded like he wanted to take the place over. That's all I know, I swear! I swear!"

"So, that's his play, to take over Asgard?" Natasha fired a widow's bite tazer at Shocker, immediately rendering him unconscious. "Whatever that sword Doom wants better be powerful if he plans on fighting Odin."

"Doom doesn't stand a chance, magic sword or not," Clint responded. "You know how powerful Thor is. He's only in second place on Asgard."

"We need to find Arcade and get out of here," Scott stated simply. He rose to his feet. "We didn't get to ask Shocker where Arcade was."

"That isn't an issue," Natasha uttered. She fell silent, letting the distant but very distinct sound of fists striking flesh with bone-crushing power reach them. Monica was gone, having snuck off while they were interrogating Shocker to confront Arcade face to face.

The confrontation didn't last long. Arcade tried to run, but was tripped and forced to endure nearly a full minute of Monica's fury. When she was done, Arcade's face was a bloody, lumpy mess. His pristine white suit was stained with his own blood. She rose from his waist, having been straddling him while beating him mercilessly, breathing raggedly and wiped her face with her sleeve. Crimson blood stained the white fabric.

Clint stepped inside and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Feel better?"

She frowned, but didn't answer for a long moment. In the meantime, her eyes remained glued on Arcade's unmoving form. "No," she eventually answered. "But I feel a hell of a lot better than he does."

He smirked and let his hand drop. "Let's get out of here. We still have a long way to go."

"How are we supposed to get out of here?" she wondered.

Just then, a tremendous explosion ripped through the roof, showering them in dust and debris. Tony and Ororo quickly descended into the control room. "I hope you kids enjoyed your day in the park. Your mother and I had to scrimp and save for months to afford this trip."

Clint grinned. After an hour of nothing but killer clowns and death traps, seeing Tony and Ororo was a sight for sore eyes. "Thanks, dad. Can we go home now?"


	12. Acts of Treason

_**Acts of Treason**_

 **Asgard**

Asgard, the Shining City, was in peace. Years without significant conflict – other than the usual battles engaged during the Odinsleep – allowed the gods to enjoy life to its fullest without having to worry themselves with battle after battle. Still, that did not mean that they were not vigilant. The guards still held to their posts, the watchmen still watched over the city, and the warriors within were still ready to jump to the defense for their beloved home.

Odin himself had been sitting on his throne a mere thirty minutes ago when he received a report stating that there was an uprising in Jotunheim. The frost giants, led by Ymir – the largest and oldest of the Jotun – were allegedly preparing to invade Asgard and were gathering the necessary forces to do so. Since Thor was busy on Midgard, Odin rose to handle it himself.

Little did he know that this was a ruse. Loki, the true crown prince of the Jotun race, struck a deal with Ymir to lure Odin away from Asgard. It worked. Without its king and most powerful defender, Asgard was defenseless.

They were unaware of their predicament, but would learn soon enough.

Two guards were standing watch outside the front gates leading into Asgard. The massive, eighty foot wall, was constructed of gold and uru. It was indestructible, but was very much capable of falling if struck in the right manner.

"Ho! Brave warriors of Asgard," shouted Loki from atop a hill that stood between Asgard and the Bifrost Bridge. "I have come to pay my respects to Odin." He bowed theatrically.

"Loki," one of the watchmen spat before doing so literally. "Go alert Lady Sif and Brunnhilda. This cowardly traitor has returned."

The other watchman nodded and turned to do exactly that, only to find himself face to face with the God of Mischief. "And of course, I have brought presents," he continued. He laughed evilly and swept his hand toward the hill. "Behold, my tribute to the Allfather."

They looked and beheld hundreds, maybe thousands of the mutated super soldiers from the Hub standing from the peak of the hill down the face. Each one was hoisting a massive boulder in his or her hands. With a gesture from Loki, they let them fly. They battered relentlessly on the wall. Many were aimed at and struck against the doors leading inside the city.

"Long have I been denied my rightful place," Loki stated bitterly. "And now, I have the power to take it."

Three super-soldiers launched a boulder that was six times the size as the others directly at the door. It struck the center and sent the door crashing to the ground. Loki laughed manically as the super-soldiers stampeded toward the gate.

"Go! Warn Her Highness!" One guard sprinted away without delay, leaving the second one by himself. He took a moment to assess the army rumbling toward him and to estimate his chances. He determined that he had no chance of surviving. "FOR ASGARD!" He sprinted to meet them head on. With his uru warhammer, he managed to easily kill ten with only a few swings before being completely overwhelmed and torn to pieces.

The Trickster watched his mutated army storm through the gates into Asgard and begin to lay siege to the city. "Odin's throne will be mine. Eheheheheh!"

The gods were taken completely by surprise by the super-soldiers. Many of them believed that no one would dare to attack Asgard while Odin was free to defend it. Even without Thor, they were confident. Many of them were unaware that Odin had left half an hour earlier and was thus unable to come to their aid. Still, this did not deter the gods from taking the battle to the super-soldiers.

"For Asgard!" Sif roared as she and the Warriors Three flew into action. Armed with swords and a mace, all constructed of uru, they carved through the giants with ease. For each one they killed, though, five more arrived to take his place. Their numbers were endless.

Alongside the super-soldiers were the supervillains under Doom's command. They had orders to find three specific gods: Heimdall, Tyr, and Balder. The first was necessary to capture so he couldn't guard the Bifrost, allowing Doom's forces to disable the conduit with which the wormhole was opened. Tyr was the god of war – a rather redundant title, as the entire race could be considered war gods – and was the original defender of Asgard before Thor was born. Balder would have been able to rally the gods and lead them to sure victory against Doom's army.

While everyone else was distracted with the super-soldiers, the Masters of Evil were able to capture the three gods. They were placed in chains and kept close watch over by several villains. Balder was in the courtyard just in front of the entrance to the royal palace, while Tyr and Heimdall were dragged inside and placed at opposite ends of the palace. Loki erected an energy barrier in front of the entrance to keep anyone from getting inside.

"'Twill not be long until Thor and his allies arrive," Loki told Amora, Lorelei, and Skurge. "We must complete the necessary preparations before they show themselves and inevitably turn the tides of battle."

"Then let us slay Heimdall and Tyr and be quick about it," Skurge reasoned. "They are too vital to Asgard's defenses to be allowed to draw breath another second longer."

While this made perfect sense, Loki was uncharacteristically hesitant. "Nay. It matters little if Asgard falls this day or not. So long as what needs to be accomplished is accomplished, it matters not who still stands and who falls."

They could all tell that there was something Loki was not telling them. Then again, both he and Doom had been rather short on details ever since this endeavor began. They knew that Doom planned on using an ancient spell discovered by SHIELD to steal the Odinforce, but as far as what he planned on doing after that, it was a mystery. As was what Loki stood to gain from this. Asgard's throne without a doubt, but what else? The throne and a throng of unwilling subjects was not enough to commit the ultimate act of treason.

Amora glared at the ground. She knew better than Skurge and Lorelei that Doom and Loki were not being transparent with their future endeavors. That, plus them committing treason had her feeling regrets over her decision to work with Loki again.

"Are you coming, Amora?"

She looked up from the ground to find Loki standing before a swirling white portal. She could just barely see a speck of scenery on the other side that told her that it was a portal to Niffleheim. A heavy sigh breezed through her lips, allowing her a few more moments to swallow down those regrets. "Aye." She turned to Skurge and held her hand up when he tried to follow. "You are to remain here with Lorelei. Stand guard over Balder and ensure that no one attempts to release him from his bonds."

Skurge hesitated, but eventually acquiesced. "Aye, milady."

"Yo...you fools," Balder spat weakly. He was on his knees, both arms bound with a pair of energy tethers. "You will not taste victory. Not while I still draw breath. Thor will return with his allies of Midgard and put a stop to your wicked scheme. Odin will torture your black souls for an eternity." He screamed in pain when Amora jolted him with a bolt of lightening. "Do with me what you will. 'Twill only mean your undoing."

"Hmph. Why do you believe you are still alive, 'brother'?" Loki inquired bitterly. "How can I rule over Asgard if Asgard is in ashes after Ragnarok? Let Thor come. He will find his efforts rendered ultimately useless once our plan bears fruit."

"You will not succeed," he insisted. Even as Loki and Amora vanished through the portal, he shouted, "You will not succeed!"

"Oh, poor Balder," Lorelei cooed mockingly. "How much it must burn to see your beloved city being burned to ashes."

"This is _your_ city, witch!" Balder snarled. "Odin will have your heads on a pike for this betrayal!"

Skurge barked out a laugh. "Not likely. Odin's life will indeed come to end this day."

"But not mine."

"Hmph. After Doom accomplishes his goal, Ragnarok will be inconsequential," he answered.

"What do you mean?"

Neither one answered him.

"Answer me!'

"What kind of fools do you take us for?" Lorelei inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Divulge our plan to you so you can relay it to Thor when he inevitably shows himself at the last moment to play hero once again? Ha! Pitiful fool. You will remain ignorant."

* * *

Balder's shoulders slumped as much as the angle at which his hands were bound would allow.

Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun fought against hundreds of super-soldiers at the feet of a ruined statue of Bor, father of Odin. In the distance, dozens of Valkyries – led by Brunnhilda – were carving their way through the flanking forces belonging to Doom. "Do not yield an inch, sisters!" she bellowed. Dragonfang was drenched from tip to hilt in scarlet red blood. _Gods, please send Thor and the Avengers to aid us in this time of peril!_

Sif's shield had been destroyed early on in the battle, so she had to resort to both defend and attack with two swords. Not out of her capabilities, but not what she was accustomed to with her extensive training. For a long while, this tactic actually worked to her favor. With an additional blade, she was able to kill twice as many super-soldiers as she would have normally.

This advantage came to an abrupt end when she caught a massive fist to the arm that would have normally been carry her shield. Her swords pinwheeled out of her grip and landed on the ground with twin clangs. She herself was sent flying into the arms of a second super-soldier, who tightened his grip around her like a vice, crushing her dense body and driving the air out of her lungs. She gritted her teeth to keep from screaming, as doing such would have sacrificed what little air she had left.

"Sif!" Fandral and the other Warriors Three tried to cut through the mass of mutated humanity to save their shield-sister in peril, but there was too much congestion to put much force into their attacks. It was not long before they themselves were overwhelmed and swarmed at all sides.

All throughout the Shining City, the Asgardians were being pushed back and defeated. Warriors fell one after another after fighting with everything they had. Doom's forces weren't more powerful, but the numbers were just too much to overcome.

It appeared that all hope was lost.

However, unseen by everyone, was a white blur that was streaking and winding through the throngs of volatile humanity en route to the Bifrost Bridge – Hermod, son of Odin and his trusted messenger. While his fighting capabilities were inferior to most Asgardians, his speed proved vital in many battles. In this one, his speed was a matter of life-or-death. The message he was carrying to his brother of Midgard was the difference between Asgard standing to see another day and falling for the final time.


	13. Power Move

_**A/N:** A second chapter to make up for my brief absence. I promise we'll get to the meat of the plot soon._

 _ **Power Move**_

 **Muspelheim**

The plan that Doom stole from SHIELD when he attacked the helicarrier was very detailed. Commissioned by former director Nick Fury, the spell was based on an ancient Vishanti power transferal incantation. It required four sorcerers to cast, of which Doom had four: Loki, Amora, Baron Mordo, and Doom himself. The power required to forcibly transfer power from one person to another depended on how powerful the person whose power was being taken was. In Odin's case, it required more power than was available within Castle Doom. Or on Earth, honestly.

Doom was fortunate that Loki informed him of Raven's Spire, a mountain located in Niffleheim. The Spire was a magical conduit that increased the power of a sorcerer substantially. Between the four of them, enhanced by Raven's Spire, they should have had enough power to perform the transfer.

With that issue resolved, the only hurdle left was defeating Odin. A feat that was impossible for any being less than cosmic in power. There were very few weapons that allowed mortals to defeat the Allfather. Out of all of such weapons, only one was relatively easily accessible – the Twilight Sword. Created by Surtur, the most powerful Fire Demon in existence and ruler of Muspelheim, that sword was rumored to be even in power with the Odinsword – Odin's most powerful weapon next to the Destroyer Armor.

The Twilight Sword was created to set fire to the universe. That fact alone said all that needed to be said. A weapon that powerful would go a long way in helping Doom defeat Odin; but it wasn't enough by itself. Preparation was required.

If there was any one thing that Doom was a master at, it was preparing in advance. Before he left for Muspelheim, he made a brief detour to Niffleheim to pre-cast a spell that was sure to tip the scales in his favor. The Crimson Bands of Cytorrak, created by the immensely powerful Cytorrak, were capable of holding even the most powerful beings. While sufficiently powerful beings were capable of breaking out of them through brute strength, such a feat took time. Time that Odin would not have.

Muspelheim was a familiar setting. The fire and brimstone was not a unique characteristic, as many hell realms possessed flames that licked across the heels of the damned. Mephisto's realm was Doom's first experience with this sort of place. Compared to that and his quest, what he planned on doing next was almost simple.

"Surtur, ruler of Muspelheim, I am grateful to have your attention."

Surtur was a massive being, easily dwarfing Doom in size. His skin was red tinged with a thick film of fire around his midsection and his head. A pair of pitch black horns jutted out of his forehead and curled sharply upward. "The frost dwarf told me you wished to bargain," Surtur spoke, his voice expansive and brimming with ancient power. "Speak quickly, mortal."

"I wish to bargain indeed. I have need of your Twilight Sword to accomplish my quest, to which the Allfather stands in the way."

Surtur didn't laugh, but it was clear he was amused. "And why, mortal, should I allow you to wield my blade?"

"Why matters little. What matters to you is what I can offer you in return."

"Oh? What do you have to offer?"

Doom licked his lips from behind his facemask. "Her." He snapped his fingers. In a burst of green light, Jean appeared in front of him, on her knees and bound by thick chains.

Surtur raised a curious eyebrow. "Of what use will this small mortal girl have to me? I—" He trailed off when her defiant green eyes met his soulless yellow eyes. Behind her eyes, he could feel the incredible, unimaginable power she was holding within. A power that easily dwarfed his own by many, many orders. "The Phoenix."

"Yes."

"You... offer me the mortal host of the Phoenix Force... in exchange for my Twilight Sword?"

"Yes."

Surtur cackled with glee. He couldn't believe the good fortune that had just fallen, literally, at his feet. With a flick of his wrist, the Twilight Sword materialized in his hand. The blade was a sterling gold in color, with a red hue that appeared depending on how the light shined on the blade. The hilt was beautifully designed – gold with five gems on each side, three blue and two red.

He tossed it to Doom, who caught it easily. Doom could feel the immense power brimming through it. "My thanks." With that, he turned and left the same way he arrived, leaving Surtur and Jean alone.

"Hehe. I can hardly believe my fortune. The Phoenix itself delivered to me. With your power and mine combined, there is no corner of the cosmos that I cannot drown in fire!"

Jean remained silent, opting to simply stare passively at him.

If he was unnerved – if he was in fact capable of being unnerved – he didn't show it. "Nothing? Naught a word of lamentation at your current predicament? Naught an offer of bargain for your freedom? I know well how much you mortals will do anything to taste freedom."

Again, Jean didn't say a word.

"Hmph. It matters little. As soon as I absorb your power, I will burn this entire universe. There will not be nary a corner safe from my wrath!"

"Can you?"

"What?"

"Can you possibly hope to contain the level of power I keep hidden away? It's a very simple question."

"What a ridiculous inquiry."

"Is it?" Jean stood up and started to walk toward him; a slow, deliberate saunter, as though she was taking a walk the park. Her expression was passive, mocking so. As if being in Surtur's presence had bored her to tears.

Despite how innocuous her approach was, Surtur was on guard. He watched her cautiously until she was only a few feet from the foot of his throne.

"Doom," she stated as she lifted her hands, "said that he didn't doubt that I would survive this experience." The chains clinked together, a sound that was broadcast through a loudspeaker in the silence of Muspelheim. Several fire demons – similar in appearance to their king, but much closer to Jean's size – circled around her, but gave her a wide berth. "I know he's right."

The chains around her wrist evaporated in a burst of fire. Even in the unbearable heat of Muspelheim, the fire from Jean was enough to warp the air.

Surtur rose from his throne abruptly, clearly and visibly alarmed. "Enough!" He lunged for her, fist drawn back for a brief moment before exploding forward.

His fist was mere inches from smearing her across the ground when a powerful, irresistible force stopped it cold.

"What?!" He tugged on his wrist, but it was like an infant trying to free its hand from quicksand. Impossible. "What madness is this?"

"Not madness. It's power." That same unseen force pushed Surtur back until he crashed through his throne, reducing the massive chair to pieces. "Doom said I survive this experience. Matter of fact, he had no doubt." Jean was bathed in fire and flames that surpassed those of Muspelheim by a tremendous margin. Those flames took shape into a pair of massive wings that jutted out of her back. Her eyes filled with a yellow power that sent his subjects into a fearful furor. Controlled bursts of cosmic fire reduced them to nothing more than memories. **"Would you like to find out why he had no doubt?"**


	14. To Challenge The Gods

_**OOC:** I'm very sorry about the delay. I've just been busy with work and other things. I'll have the next chapter up in the next few days at any rate. _

* * *

_**To Challenge The Gods**_

 **Sanctum Sanctorum**

" _Stark, take a team with you and head to Antarctica. Do whatever you have to to get in, even if you have to blow a hole in the damn thing." Coulson paused to think it over for a moment. "Matter of fact, just blow a hole in the damn thing. Save someone else in the future the grief."_

 _Tony clapped his hands together. "Alright. Who wants to go on a field trip?"_

Tony decided to just take Ororo with him. Between the two of them, they were reasonably certain they could handle whatever defenses Murderworld had in store for them. If not, they hoped to meet up with Scott and the others before it got to be too much for them.

After they left, the ones that remained behind began to discuss their next move. It was universally agreed on that they needed to send a team of some kind to Doom's castle to inquire of Jean's whereabouts. Thor immediately volunteered. In his mind, there weren't any villains allied with Doom that could stand against him.

That may have been true – and there weren't many who could argue with him – but Coulson was still wary. Doom managed to kidnapped Jean, who was many magnitudes more power than Thor – at least she did deep down. They could _not_ afford for the same to happen to Thor, who, at the moment, was their only heavy-hitter left.

"This is what he wanted," Coulson stated, punctuating the frustrating realization with a sour huff. "Our options are limited. He knows I can't afford to lose track of anyone else."

"The more you hesitate, the larger Doom's lead grows," Yelena uttered.

"Which is why we need to do something," Bobby urged, almost as frustrated as Coulson. "Scott was right. All this standing around waiting and being scared of what's waiting for us at Doom's castle is only wasting time."

There were murmurs of agreement among the heroes.

Coulson swallowed and leaned over the back of the sofa he was standing behind. It was clear he saw things their way, but there was something holding him back. He shook his head. "Fine. Get a team together and—" Suddenly, there was a loud rumble from outside. "What the hell?!"

Thinking the worse, everyone sprinted to the foyer. Before they could get to the front door, a man dressed in white and gold armor, silver gloves, and a white helmet with hold horns staggered inside. His normally pristine armor was broken and tattered in places, and he was missing one of his horns. "Thor..." he managed before falling flat on his face.

"Hermod!" Thor quickly kneeled down beside his youngest brother and gently turned him over onto his back. "What has happened? Who has done this?"

Hermod struggled to speak. "I... I know not who they are, but... I know they are of Midgard." He coughed raggedly. "They had with them... pale-skinned ogres."

"The super-soldiers!" Thor quickly scooped his brother up into his arms and carried him into the back of the house where the bedrooms were situated. "Doctor Doom has invaded Asgard. We must away at once."

There wasn't anything anyone could say or do to stop Thor from leaving. Not that anyone was going to try. If Doom's forces were in Asgard, there was little doubt that he himself would be in the very near future, if he wasn't already.

They could only hazard a guess as to what he wanted from the gods.

"Pack up. We're going to Asgard. Someone needs to stay here to point Stark and the others in the right direction."

"I shall do as you request, Director Coulson," Wong volunteered. "I am to remain here, regardless. Someone needs to be here to aid Clea in guarding the Sanctorum."

"Does that mean we'll finally have the Sorcerer Supreme at our service?"

Strange nodded once. "Indeed it does, Director. If only to combat Loki, Amora, and Mordo."

"You're going to need some help. May, get a hold of Scarlet Witch and tell her drop whatever she's doing and come here. Hopefully, she shows up when Stark gets back."

"By that point, the orb of teleportation should be purged of Baron Mordo's magicks," Clea stated. "They will have a way to Asgard, should you choose to leave now."

"We will. Thank you, Mr. Wong and Ms. Clea."

"Mrs," she corrected before turning to tend to the orb.

"Oh. Alright, team. Let's move. Time is not our friend here."

"Is it ever?" Peter wondered aloud. Strange led them down a corridor hidden behind an otherwise completely innocuous looking bookshelf. This corridor, which was dusty from years of disuse, led them literally through a wall and out into an alley behind the Sanctum. "Okay. I guess there is no spoon."

"Heimdall, open the bridge!" Thor bellowed to the sky. Those associated with the Avengers knew that this was the moment when a massive column of rainbow-tinted light rained down on Thor and those around them, picking them up and transporting them instantly to Asgard.

That didn't happen.

"Heimdall?" Still nothing. "Damn it all. Matters must be graver than I feared." He spun his hammer, gather a current of lightning that quickly enveloped those that stood around him. That current shot skyward, carrying them across space in an instance of time.

* * *

 **Asgard**

" _Sif!" Fandral and the other Warriors Three tried to cut through the mass of mutated humanity to save their shield-sister in peril, but there was too much congestion to put much force into their attacks. It was not long before they themselves were overwhelmed and swarmed at all sides._

 _All throughout the Shining City, the Asgardians were being pushed back and defeated. Warriors fell one after another after fighting with everything they had. Doom's forces weren't more powerful, but the numbers were just too much to overcome._

 _It appeared that all hope was lost._

An uru spear lanced through the super-soldier's head, dropping him like a brick in a pond. His grip on Sif slackened enough for her to get away before two more super-soldiers converged on her. She grabbed one of her swords and cut through their spines.

The Valkior were the most elite of Odin's soldiers. In addition to their duties as conductors of the slain to Valhalla, they rode the front lines of every battle, leading the other soldiers against the enemies. They could be likened to the Marines Corps of Midgard, highly trained to handle a wide variety of situations, depending on what Odin required. Thor may have been the Asgard's greatest defender, but the Valkior weren't far behind.

Brunnhilda met Sif and stood back to back with her so that neither of them would be blindsided. "Odin is called away to Jotunheim mere moments before Asgard is besieged by outworlders. I smell a snake," she hissed.

It was clear that Loki had something hand in this. Who else would have been able to orchestrate an army of mindless, pale-skinned ogres such as this and bring them into one accord? "That bastard! I will have his head for this!" As the battle raged on on the ground, high above, lightning crackled and thunder roared. The heavens opened up, letting loose a torrent of icy cold rain and freezing winds from the north. It was uncanny; the rains drenched the giants, but never touched any of the Asgardians. Sif felt herself grinning. "He is here."

The sky opened up once again and unleashed a massive lightning bolt, larger and more powerful than any of the ones that proceeded it by a great magnitude. It struck one of the larger super-soldiers present, flashing frying his mutated flesh and reducing him to nothing more than a pile of charred bones. The bolt, when it contacted, broke off into small bolts that curved and wrapped around the Asgardians until they struck a super-soldier. These smaller bolts were still just as deadly as the one that proceeded them.

In one blow, the immediate area was free of invading forces. Those on the outskirts of the attack backed away, fearful and wary of any further attacks.

"Begone from this place!" came a unyielding command from above. "So speaks Thor, son of Odin!" He was floating a few hundred feet above the battle, Dr. Strange and Human Torch hovering beside him.

The super-soldiers fled, knowing that the element of surprise and their numerical advantage had been rendered pointless.

Thor wasted no time in descending quickly and giving Sif a supportive shoulder before she collapsed from exhaustion. "I came as soon as I heard, Milady," he told her regretfully. "I apologize for not being here sooner."

She didn't answer. Not out of anger or disappointment, but rather because her attention was enraptured by those that came with him. "You brought mortals to Asgard. Again," she uttered dryly.

"Aye. I know such is... taboo here, but my friends are strong, and we need all the aid we can have."

"No." She pushed off of him and staggered to the nearest flat surface to sit and rest.

"Sif."

Her eyes narrowed stubbornly. "I said no, Thor. You have brought _mortals_ to the city of the gods. What good will they do? What abilities do _they_ possess that we ourselves do not?" She shook her head. "Nay I say to you. These... orgres and villains have attacked the gods, and the gods will slay them all. Your obsession with Midgard has clouded your judgment, Thunderer. You will do naught more but lead them to their demise."

While Thor was disappointed with her erroneous assessment, he knew why she felt that way. It was the same this day as it was every day prior; jealousy that he was spending more time on Midgard than Asgard. That, plus gods in general held mortals in a very unfavorable light, seeing them as weak and uncultured. _He_ knew she was wrong, but rather than argue that point, he resigned to allow her to see for herself. "You have nary a choice, Milady," he spoke, a growing smile on his face at her stupefied expression. "Asgard has fallen. The gods are in chains. Villainy runs rampant throughout. Those assembled here are all that remains. Do you expect to win the day against such mountainous odds?" Before she could answer, he spoke again. "Father entrusted the defense of this realm to me, and I shall defend it how I see fit. I have my friends and allies here, and they are to aid us in freeing our home. You will be made to see, Sif, how capable they are."

"He speaks truth," Brunnhilda said as she stepped up to them. "I have seen their strength bravery countless times. Indeed, they even outmatch us at times."

"Nonsense," Fandral scoffed.

"You shall see," she uttered with a smirk.

Steve walked up and clipped his shield to his back. Extending his hand out to Sif, he said, "Ma'am, it's an honor to meet you. Thor talks about you a lot."

Sif looked at the hand, somewhat confused by the gesture, for a few moments before realizing what he was doing and shaking the hand. "An honor, indeed... Captain, is it not?" When Steve nodded, so did she. "Thor has regaled me with countless tales of your bravery and battle prowess. Yours in particular, in fact. I look forward to measuring your mettle as a warrior."

"I hope I don't disappoint you," he responded with a soft smile. The smile faded, replaced by a serious frown. "We need you to gather whoever's able to stand and fight. We need you to brief us on what the hell is going on."

As Thor moved to do so, Sif looked at him, perplexed. "Brief?"

"An interchange of information pertinent to our coming battle," Brunnhilda explained. "Thus far, it appears that 'tis merely all whom are present, Captain."

Steve grimaced. "Well, that will have to do. Lady Sif, the Warriors Three, since you guys know this place inside and out, it's best if you take point during the rescue operation. Is there anywhere Loki would have taken whoever his people took captive? A secret hideaway, maybe?"

She was too hung up on what he meant by 'take point' that she missed his question. Fortunately, Fandral was there to cover for her. "I know not of any secret hideaways, but I do believe that Balder is still within the city limits. He, Tyr, and Heimdall were apparently Loki's prime targets. If we free them, then they can lead the charge toward freeing the remaining gods."

Steve nodded once. "Alright, then freeing those three first is our objective. Three teams, each one focused on saving either Heimdall, Balder, or Tyr. I wish we had time to do recon so we can know what we're about to walk into, but Coulson says time isn't our friend and he's right."

"The Son of Coul is here?"

Coulson stepped around Steve and into her line of sight. "Right here, Sif. It's good to see you again."

"And you as well, my friend. I only wish our reunion was under better circumstances." A soft, pained grunt slipped out when she rose to her feet. She clutched gingerly at her ribcage, only to wave Thor off when he tried to help her. "I am fine. Nothing that the heat of battle will not numb."

"I can heal you," Danny offered, hands already imbued with chi. "Those injuries will only slow you down, adrenaline or not."

She hesitated, but sighed and relented. "Very well."

As the human heroes prepared themselves for the rescue operations, the Asgardians spoke among themselves. " _These_ are the mortals in which Thor has such confidence?" Fandral inquired.

"Indeed," Volstagg answered. "We know well that Thor gives himself over to exaggeration more oft than not, but... I am unsure. I believe Brunnhilda's words will ring with truth at the day's end."

"Mayhap so, but do you truly believe that they can actually outdo the gods themselves?" Fandral shook his head, unable to wrap his mind around such an idea.

"How completely you have forgotten the battle we shared with them on Midgard, my dashing compatriot. They displayed their fighting prowess there for the entire world to see."

"And more importantly," Hogun followed, "these are Thor's allies. I have little doubt that if they were weak, he would not deem it necessary to bring them, unless they were expendable, as they would do less than he himself is capable of doing alone."

With that, it was decided. The gods of Asgards, much like many other divine realms, thought very little of the mortals. Despite Thor's constant tales of their heroism and strength, they had their doubts. The assertion that mortals could even outpower gods was a hefty one; one that they sincerely hoped, for the mortals' sake, was not born of fallaciloquence.

"Where is my father? We will need his strength in liberating the city," Thor inquired as he stepped up to them.

"He departed for Niffleheim some time ago," Volstagg answered. "Mere moments prior to the invasion, in fact." He frowned deeply and stroked his voluminous beard. "Do you believe that his timely absence is a machination of this doctor of doom?"

Thor growled in frustration. "I know it is. With him and I gone, and the rest of you unaware, Asgard was defenseless. I must depart for Niffleheim immediately." Without another word, he strode purposefully toward a nearby well with a large tree sprouting out of it. "I fear you will have to liberate our brothers without me."

"You will need help," Stephen offered. "I will accompany you to keep Amora and Loki off your back while you deal with Doom."

Thor nodded without hesitation. "Very well. Come, let us away at once."

"Maximoff should be here soon," Coulson called out from his station. "I'll send her your way the moment she gets here."

They nodded and leaped into the well, disappearing into the magical waters leading to the Realm of the Dead.

"What about the rest of us?" Peter asked.

"We have much work to do, young one," Sif answered. "Let us be to it."

The tasks to free Asgard were few, but the work involved made it seem like a herculean task. Jessica, Sue, and Sif left with Danny and Reed for the Royal Palace. Luke, Steve, Volstagg, Hogun, and Thing departed for the Bifrost Bridge. Everyone else went around to fend off whatever super-soldiers and villains that remained in the city.

The chaos that gripped the divine city enraptured the attention of every able-bodied soul available. For good reason, certainly, but not without consequence. The Palace was besieged first at the behest of Loki, with the only other instructions given being to not harm Frigga. It seemed the Trickster God still held some amount of affection for his adoptive mother. More than his adoptive father, at any rate.

The Palace being the very first target was meant to draw the most forces there, so that in the absolute chaos, no one would think to keep watch over Odin's treasure hall, being as concerned over their Queen as they were.

No one noticed the lone figure sneaking into the treasure hall as Frigga and dozens of soldiers were locked in combat with the invading super-soldiers. Fair of skin and hair, and cloaked in an elegant red dress, the young-looking woman snuck into the hall and crept passed the various trinkets and immensely powerful artifacts the Allfather collected during his conquests, or for safe keeping. Her name was Sigyn, and she was Loki's wife.

No one, not even Sigyn herself, knew what she saw in the King of Lies. Perhaps she had been entranced by his charming, mysterious allure, or perhaps she could see something beyond the evident evil he shrouded himself with. Regardless, she loved him dearly, more than anyone save Frigga. It was why she agreed to steal from Odin at his request. The theft had nothing to do with what Doom had planned, he swore. This was personal.

"Ah, here it is," she whispered when she came upon her quarry: the eerily glowing blue cube known as the Tesseract. She quietly removed the case it was enshrouded in with a special key given to her by her husband. When she held it in her hand, she could feel the immeasurable, unimaginable power pulsating with it. She shuddered softly and placed it inside a black satchel hanging by her side, then left as quietly as she arrived. _I hope you know what you are doing, my love._


	15. Even Gods May Bleed

_**Even Gods May Bleed**_

 **Niffleheim**

The air was piercingly cold in the Asgardian realm known as Niffleheim. It was the realm that housed the warriors not allowed admittance into Valhalla. It was ruled by Loki's daughter, Hela, from her region known as Hel.

Doom had been informed earlier that Loki struck a deal with his daughter to allow their battle with Odin to take place there, and to also loan them the use of her reanimated warriors. He was unaware of what she wanted in exchange, but he was so close to his goal, he didn't care. Perhaps that was a foolish oversight on his part, but soon, it wouldn't matter.

He checked the place where he cast the Crimson Bands of Cytorrak earlier to ensure that they would activate as soon as Odin stepped over them. All was as it should have been. He was as ready as he was ever going to be. Even with his advanced preparation, he was nervous.

No, not nervous; Doom was literally incapable of succumbing to nerves. He was cautious; Odin was more powerful than anyone he had ever faced before. One mistake – on the off-chance that Doom made one – and it was all over. With that in mind, he had Loki, Amora, Mordo, and Ultron waiting in the wings just in case he needed help.

He doubted he would, but he was not taking any chances.

"The Jotun will not last much longer," Loki intoned, his warm breath visible in the form of a rush of white vapor against the bitterly cold air. "Odin likely believes my daughter to be the cause of this uprising. I can sense his presence closing in on our location. If you plan on turning back, now is the time to do it."

"Hmph," Doom grunted. "I have come too far to turn tail and run now. It is now or never, as they say. Even now, I can see the residue of his battle with your people." True to his words, the brilliant flash of light from a nearby explosion rocked the very ground they were standing on, scintillating the sky a vibrant whitish blue.

The ground's tremble eventually subsided, only to be quickly followed by another massive blast, much closer than the last, if the tidal wave of debris that just barely subsisted before engulfing them was any indication. Even still, the powerful shockwave knocked all five of them back several yards.

" _ **This Odin being is more powerful than you insinuated, Loki,"**_ Ultron noted calmly.

"Indeed. I now realize that all five of us will be needed to defeat him in a timely manner," Doom admitted. "When the Bands activate, we must all attack in concert."

"Amora, can you possibly charm Odin, so he will come along with us willingly?" Mordo asked, a desperate ring in his voice.

"Were that possible, my dearest Baron, then I would have done it long ago," she replied. "Odin's mental fortitude of beyond any other Asgardian, and well beyond my sorcery."

That would have posed a problem if Doom had thought to depend on Amora's charming sorcery beforehand.

"The Allfather approaches," Loki warned moments before he stepped into view.

"Loki, Amora," Odin called out, power and authority thrumming in his every word, "I might have known you two serpents had something to do with this madness."

"But of course, _Father,_ " Loki responded, bitterly venomous sarcasm bleeding from every letter of the final word. "These are the end days of Asgard, Allfather." He subtly gestured toward Ultron, who immediately rocketed forward.

When he crossed the midway point between himself and Odin, he pulled up and fired an orangeish-red beam from his facial oriface.

A simple blast from Odin's outstretched hand completely overwhelmed and overtook Ultron's, washing over the robot and blasting him away into the nearby woods.

Amora and Mordo leaped into action, both firing off their most powerful spells in concert. Amora's emerald arrow shook the ground as it streaked toward Odin, flanked by six dark energy sphere's cast by Mordo.

They were both easily dispatched with a mere wave of Odin's hand. Another wave sent an unstopped arc of energy that destroyed everything in its path. The four remaining villains had to hit the deck to avoid being vaporized. "Your efforts are folly," the King of Gods remarked. "Yield, and mayhap I shall show a measure of leniency in your punishments."

"Hpmh. The battle has not yet begun, Odin." Loki reached into a small blue portal and pulled out a large blue box with black trimmings on all four sides and ornate symbols carved into it. The Cask of Ancient Winters was a Jotun artifact that contained immense, almost unlimited magical energy. When opened, it froze mortal and god alike within moments. It was even powerful enough to stymie Odin's magical abilities.

Loki opened the Cask, unleashing its untold power upon his adoptive father.

Odin's power was immense, incalculable even, but even it could only hope to match that which was contained in the Cask. He grunted and pushed his power forward to keep from being frozen by its intense wintry air. As long as the Cask was open, it was all he could do.

Doom realized this and reached into his own miniature portal and pulled out what looked like a ornate, sterling silver torch. It contained the Eternal Flame of Destruction, wielded by Surtur many centuries ago to light the Twilight Sword to light the entire universe aflame during the previous Ragnarok. Once the Asgardian realms were re-initiated, Odin and his brothers stole that flame from him.

Doom touched the blade of the Twilight Sword to the torch, lighting it aflame.

"No!" Odin roared and expended his power to its fullest extent. Gradually at first, then with frightening force, he pushed back and overwhelmed the Cast of Ancient Winters, pushing Loki back until he landed hard on his back. The Cask tumbled out of his grip and closed shut. Odin wasted no time and charged forward toward Doom.

Doom held his ground, unmoving in the face of the unstoppable power barreling toward him. _Almost._

Doom's heart began to pound when Odin stepped into the area where he pre-cast the Bands of Cytorrak. Suddenly, a set of dark red restraints erupted from the ground beneath him and wrapped tightly around his arms, legs, and chest. "What is this madness?!"

"Now!" Doom bellowed as he charged forward, Twilight Sword poised to strike. "You will learn that even a god can fall!" He plunged the blade deep into Odin's midsection. From there, the magical power of the sword did the rest. The ground shook with the force of a 10.0 earthquake. Odin roared in pain and would have collapsed to his knees if not for the crimson bands coiled around him.

Doom ripped the sword out and raised it over his head. "All will know the MIGHT OF DOOM!" He brought the blade down on the Allfather of Asgard. As soon as it touched him, it exploded, throwing Doom and the fallen villains back several dozen yards.

He groaned and rolled over to raise up to his knees. The Twilight Sword was broken, shattered from the force of the explosion. The battlefield had been reduced to a crater nearly half a mile in circumference. In the epicenter was Odin, bleeding profusely and unconscious.

The battle was over. He had won.

Ultron returned, largely undamaged from the blast he suffered. **_"Even gods can fall, hm."_**

"Indeed," he replied, breathlessly. "Take him up to Raven's Spire and prepare him. We have much to do still and hardly no time to do it."

* * *

 **Sanctum Sanctorum**

Tony, Ororo, and the four heroes who were trapped at Murderworld finally returned to the Sanctum Sanctorum after taking a short detour to drop Arcade off at Ryker's Penitentiary. "Never thought I'd be glad to see this place," Clint muttered. He absently rubbed his arm, where he had been cut by one of the buzzsaws those psychopathic clowns threw at him. The bleeding had long since stopped, but he needed to have it looked at before it got infected. "Hey, where is everyone?"

"They left for Asgard about twenty minutes ago," Wong answered dutifully. "Clea and I remained here to transport you there upon your arrival."

Tony rubbed his goatee and pondered for a moment. "Why Asgard? Is it in trouble?" The way he spoke, the question was uttered more out of process of elimination than actual concern. He highly doubted even Doom was so brazen as to attack Thor's home.

"Yes," Wong stated. "A scout from there indicated that Doctor Doom has led an army into the city and was laying siege to everything."

That stopped whatever Tony was going to say dead in its tracks. "What?" He didn't want to believe that Doom was that ballsy. That meant that he felt he had the means to defeat not just Thor, but also Odin. He didn't want to live in that kind of world. "They'll need our help, so we should get going."

"That would be prudent. However, Director Coulson suggested we wait until Scarlet Witch arrives from her current mission, as he suspects they will need her magical prowess to aid Dr. Strange in combating Loki and Amora."

Just hearing those names sent a chill up Tony's spine. He couldn't believe Loki was out of prison and that he was going to face him again. It had been six years, but he still vividly remembered bring grabbed by the throat and tossed out of his window. If it wasn't for his suit catching up to him in time, he would have been killed.

He didn't even need to be facing him to know that Clint was withdrawn. "Fine. I hope she gets a move on."

He had heard _a lot_ of stories about Asgard over the years; and while he was sure that many of the details Thor gave were exaggerated – he had a slight issue with that – the general idea was that the Asgardians were well above them. Or, at least the strongest of them. Namely, Odin. Thor's dad was far above Thor, who was far above the other Asgardians. If Doom felt that comfortable attacking Asgard when it wasn't the Odinsleep, then that meant he had something up his sleeve.

The only time Doom made a mistake was when his ego got the better of him. When he was on his game, he was untouchable. That must have been what the magic sword was for. It had to have been powerful for Doom to risk unleashing the Phoenix just to trade Jean to some demon. "I have a bad feeling about this, guys."

"So do I," Natasha intoned.

Natasha agreeing with him wasn't as comforting as he hoped it would be. He cut a glance at Scott and saw the man pacing back and forth behind the sofa he and Monica were sitting on. He looked immensely worried, likely about Jean. While Tony wanted her safe – though not nearly as much as her husband did – he wanted her back from whatever hell-scape Doom traded her in so she could tangle with Doom if whatever endgame he had made him too powerful for the rest of them to handle. While Tony was reasonably certain they were going to stop him before worst came to worst, it helped to be prepared for every eventuality; even the ones that were least desired.

After Natasha spoke, the room fell into a tense silence. The near future and the dangers it carried with it loomed over all of them like a menacing shadow. The very real threat of Doom had been made manifest many times in the past, but never before had he been so confident in his chances of victory. If they didn't move fast, he stood to score a very large victory in Asgard.

When the front door opened and they heard Wanda greet Wong, they all silently sighed with relief. Tony stood from the sofa. "Alright, Wanda's here, so let's get going."

"May was short on details," Wanda started as they hustled over to the Orb of Teleportation. "Mind filling me in on why I'm needed on Asgard?"

"In short," Clint answered, "Doom invaded Asgard and we need to sort that out. He's got Loki and Amora with him, and he traded Jean for a magical sword from one of the Asgardian realms to help him. Pretty sure Doc Strange wants you to help him with those two while the rest of us handle the invasion."

She nodded slowly, quickly coming to terms with her proposed role. "Alright, I can fight Amora again."

"Sure hope you don't plan on holding back this time," Natasha stated idly, earning a cross glare. She shrugged lazily. "I've heard about the power you're packing. You never brought any of it out in Berlin. I hope this time is different."

It was clear Wanda wanted to say something in retort, but held her tongue and waited for Wong to activate the Orb.

Same as before, the milky white orb erupted in a bright purple light that enveloped the present heroes. This time, they were instantly transported from the Sanctum Sanctorum to Asgard. The light from the Orb faded, leaving them standing ten yards behind Coulson and the rest of SHIELD's presence. "Agent," Tony called out.

"Mr. Stark, your timing is impeccable, as always." Coulson turned around to face him. "And you have Maximoff, great. Wanda, you need to be in Niffleheim five minutes ago. The rest of you, split up between liberating the palace and unclogging the Bifrost bridge."

One of the Asgardian soldiers tasked with protecting the area led Wanda to the portal that led directly to Niffleheim where Thor and Stephen were waiting impatiently for her arrival. "And I just... jump in?" she questioned. The portal in question was a stone well with a large tree growing out of it. A peer inside revealed the swirling blue waters that laid within.

"Aye, milady."

"Alright." _This isn't the first leap of faith I've taken in my life._ She placed a hand on the edge of the well, then hoisted herself over and into the water. The well was shallow, but her entire body was submerged. It felt like she was diving into the deep end of the pool at the Avengers Facility. The water was warm. It contrasted quite harshly with the frigid cold air that slapped her in the face mere moments after she leaped in the well.

She blinked to clear her vision and found herself standing in the middle of a frozen tundra. In the distance, she could see pieces of viking ships, frozen in place after having shipwrecked hundreds of years earlier.

"Ah, how nice of you to finally join us, Ms. Maximoff," Strange's voice sounded from somewhere nearby. "Thor went ahead to find his father. You and I have an appointment with his brother." He materialized before her. "Shall we?"

She nodded and followed after him. "So, where can we find Loki and Amora?"

"According to Thor, Raven's Spire is the most likely location. The summit is a conduit of sorts that amplifies magical energies by a significant proportion. I can't think of any other place that two master sorcerers would go."

The results of Odin's battle with the Jotun was clear and evident. Broken bodies of the Frost Giants lay strewn across the cratered and blackened ground. "According to Sif, Odin was drawn away just twenty minutes before Doom's invasion," Stephen explained.

"A diversion. Doom must not have been ready to face him yet." Wanda looked around and listened. It was quiet. The only sounds were the snow crunching under their footsteps and the low rumbles of thunder above them. "Do you know of any weapons Doom could use to combat him?"

"There are many, actually. Any of the infinity gems, a cosmic cube, the Wand of Watoomb, Cask of Ancient Winters, the Twilight Sword, just to name a few."

Twilight Sword? Wanda had never heard of that, but knew a magical sword when she heard it. "Where is the sword from?"

"It often changed owners at times, usually between Mephisto and Surter. As of lately, I believe Surter has it in Muspleheim."

"Clint said that Doom traded Jean for a magical sword from one of the nine realms. Could it have been the Twilight Sword?"

Stephen frowned as he thought it over. His frowned deepened into a grimace. "Yes, I'm sure of it. It's the most powerful sword in existence, to my knowledge, and only one that would be worth trading the Phoenix for. Which means –" He was cut off when they came across the massive crater that had been left from Odin's battle with the Masters of Evil. They found Thor on his knees at the epicenter.

The two sorcerers sprinted down the steep, violently made downslope. "Thor," Wanda called out. "What has happened?"

Thor said nothing in reply, but merely held up the shattered hilt of what was once the Twilight Sword in one hand. In his other hand was a piece of Odin's armor, which had broken off during the final strike against him.

A cold chill – one far more frigid than anything the iciness of Niffleheim could produce – swept through them.

"We must move with all haste available," Thor stated resolutely. "There is no time to tarry, for my father's very life is at stake."

"Raven's Spire, where is it?" Stephen inquired.

Thor pointed to the highest peak in the realm. "There. We must go now." He grabbed Wanda and twirled his hammer twice to lift them off and away toward the mountain, with Stephen close behind.

* * *

 **Raven's Spire**

Within the temple built at the top of Raven's Spire, Odin was in the center of a expertly crafted pentagram, with a green flame at each point. Surrounding him were Doom, Loki, Amora, and Mordo, joined together by a tether of energy colored to match their magical affinity. They spoke an ancient incantation in unison, written in a language that had been dead for millennia. The words carried a literal weight, transferring bit by bit the Odinforce into Doom, who stood at the head of the rune.

Ultron stood close watch at the mouth of the temple. He was the only thing that stood between Thor, Stephen, and Wanda, and the precarious ritual. Precision was key; one misstep, one misspoken word and the entire spell would be thrown into absolute disarray. It was crucial that nothing interrupt them until the transferal of power was complete.

That was why when Ultron detected Thor, Wanda, and Stephen approaching the summit of the Spire, he said nothing and left to handle them himself. All he had to do was hold out for the remaining few minutes.

Luckily, he wasn't alone.

Ultron drones poured from every crack, every crevice along the face of the mountain whose summit the heroes were so desperate to reach in an effort to slow them down. Their robotic master was close behind them. _**"This is as far as you go, I'm afraid."**_

"Ultron," Thor bellowed. "Remove yourself from our path, or suffer the same fate as afore."

Ultron chuckled and gestured for his endless horde of drones to attack.

They stood no chance against the combined might of the Thunder God and the Sorcerer Supreme, but then, their role wasn't to challenge them, but merely delay them.

While the men cut through the drones like a hot knife through better, Wanda propelled herself toward the summit, hoping that Ultron was too preoccupied with Thor and Stephen to notice her. That was a short-lived luxury, because as soon as she landed, Ultron was in front of her. "Get out of my way, Ultron."

" _ **You benefited from having many of your teammates run distraction while you prepared your hex magic,"**_ he noted with a cautious ring in his voice. **_"Unfortunately for you, that is not the case this time. You have my undivided attention."_**

"Oh, good. Now, you'll get to watch me kick your ass from beginning to end."

Forty-five seconds had passed since Ultron took it upon himself to run spoiler against the heroes, meaning that they were forty-five seconds closer to Doom's goal being realized. The remainder was an eternity against someone such as Scarlet Witch alone, let alone against her, Dr. Strange, and Thor. It didn't matter if he fell or not. He had a secondary body waiting for him at a secret location, plus Doom had already paid him for his assistance.

Ultron rocketed toward Wanda at full speed, leaving her without only enough time to erect a shield. He wasted no time in pulling up to keep his distance and bombarding her shield with every missile and energy ray in his arsenal. He only needed to hold off for three minutes and fifty seconds. An eternity, but what was an eternity to a being that couldn't die?

"You won't win," Wanda gritted through clenched teeth. She roared and expanded her shield. Like an unstoppable wave of destruction, it slammed into Ultron's assault and pushed it back.

" _ **NO!"**_ He cut off his attack and hastily retreated to higher ground.

Wanda's eyes filled with an eerie sanguine colored power; the same enveloped her hands as they clasped together. Quickly, she drew them apart, forming a hyper powerful hex bolt, enhanced even more by the concentrated magical energies swirling about Raven's Spire. Her hex bolt grew rapidly, both in size and instability. Streaks erupted from the hex bolt, leaving deep blackened trenches in the snowy ground.

With a mere gesture, the hex bolt exploded, filling the entire battlefield with chaotic energy. It vaporized Ultron – who had had the forethought to abandon his body for his spare on the other side of the planet by that point – his drones, and the quadruple-reinforced barrier protecting the entrance of the temple. The sky turned blood red, the snow turned black as midnight. Reality itself was being ripped apart at the seams.

The world of Niffleheim was a puppet, and Scarlet Witch was the puppeteer.

Wtih a simple gesture, she ripped the summit of Raven's Spire apart, large chunks of icy stone and rock reduced to tiny cubes of matter. In doing so, she revealed the four sorcerers and Odin's prone form to the world. **"Enough,"** she commanded; her voice was tinged with an ancient power never before witnessed. It was the power of Cthon, of whom Wanda had been a vessel for years.

"Stop her!" Doom yelled. "Don't let her interrupt the final phase!"

Loki and Amora leaped into action, their own magical energies swirling as they closed in. They, surprisingly, were no match for Wanda's power. With simple gestures, she and Chthon's chaotic, reality-rending powers disrupted and brushed aside even their most powerful spells.

" **Doom,"** she spoke, her booming, otherworldly voice echoing through the entire realm. **"It ends here."** She stretched out a single hand, surrounded by a thin film of chaos magic. **"Break."** To the naked eye, nothing happened. She simply spoke, and Mordo – who leaped in front of Doom at the last moment – screamed at the top of his lungs before literally shattering into thousands of pieces like a pane of glass. To those with magical senses, however, the power behind the simple command was staggering. Mordo was torn apart on a molecular level, but the way reality had been tamper with on a wide scale, he had been turned to glass at the same time.

Mordo's interference wasn't entirely futile. It gave Doom just enough time to complete the ritual. A bright white light exploded from his body, filling what was left of the temple and quickly overtaking everything in Niffleheim.


	16. Ascension

_**Ascension**_

 **Niffleheim**

The light faded just as quickly as it appeared. In its wake was Doom, standing tall with his hands bleeding a royal blue power. Despite seeing his three peers dispatch with startling ease, Doom laughed. Long and hearty, his body was racked with laughter. "Foolish girl. Your 'power', if you can call it that, pales in comparison to mine. Behold." With a mere snap of his fingers, Mordo was reassembled and tranmutated back into a human being. "Was that Cthon I sensed in you? Ha! Even the elder gods are nothing to me!"

"What have you done?" Thor demanded. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"You have no one but Nicholas J. Fury to thank for this." He stepped off the elevated platform he had been standing on during the ritual. "It was he who commissioned this Vishanti power transferal ritual, in case your father ever... stepped out of line." He chuckled and stepped toward them. A slow, deliberate amble meant to draw out what they knew was their defeat. "Using that plan, I now possess the complete power of the mightiest god in all of Asgard."

A flash of bluish white light was the lone herald of Mjølnir's flight out of its master's hand, its trajectory carrying it toward Doom at speeds exceeding what Wanda or Stephen could follow. It stopped mere inches before striking Doom in the face. "Wh-what?"

Doom chuckled and brushed the warhammer aside like a child's toy. "Two days. In a mere two days, I have snatched ultimate power and sequestered it for myself. And now," he raised his hand, a white orb of pure energy forming in his palm, "I consign you all to the cold, unforgiving grip of death."

The orb shot from his palm and shattered the hastily constructed barrier Stephen constructed the moment it struck it, throwing the three heroes out of the temple and nearly down the face of the mountain.

"I call upon the Falteen Flame!" An eruption of mystical flames bubbled up from the snow and stone beneath them and engulfed Doom. Under normal circumstances, the Falteen Flame would incinerate any and everything they touched, with nothing but a memory remaining.

His eyes widened as he watched Doom walk through the Flame as if walking through a patch of high grass. "Such an elementary incantation, Stephen," Doom mocked with venomous joviality. "I expected better from the Sorcerer Supreme."

Stephen had a plethora of spells that he could have tried to defeat Doom right then and there, but he already knew they weren't going to work. He determined that his power, sans artifacts like the Wand of Watoomb, topped out around a Herald of Galactus, and with preparation, he could increase his power even more. But, he had no time for such a ritual. In other words, as he was right then, he was well below the level Doom was currently operating on with the Odinforce.

"We need to escape," he muttered lowly enough for only Wanda to hear him. "We will only die if we continue the fight here."

Before she could respond, Thor summoned his hammer to his hand and lifted it to the heavens. Lightning erupted from the sky and fell upon Doom, obliterating Raven's Spire and throwing Stephen and Wanda down the quickly crumbling mountain.

"DOOM!" Thor flew rapidly into the air and raised his hammer skyward. The runes on the hammer's head glowed an ominous gold that matched the golden light that fill the sky behind the dreary gray clouds that covered Niffleheim. _I have one chance. I must make it count!_ He roared and fired a thin gold energy beam at the wreckage that was formerly Raven's Spire.

The Godblast, the culmination of all of Thor's godly power and energy. An attack so powerful, the only two times Thor used it – against the Destroyer and Galactus – Mjølnir was destroyed and had to be rebuilt by Odin. He knew that this time would be the third, and he also knew that Odin would likely be unable to rebuild Mjølnir for some time. He had one chance, he had to make it count.

The beam struck the area where he approximated Doom landed, shaking the ground below with a force that made a 10.0 earthquake feel like an aftershock. The resulting explosion and shockwave, uprooted and created a tidal wave of rock and ice that obliterated everything within a one thousand hundred mile radius. Nothing was left standing. Any remaining Frost Giants were vaporized instantly. The impact zone was reduced to a smoldering crater nearly half a mile deep.

When all was said and done, Niffleheim was silent. Thor's heavy, laboring breaths came out shakily, denoting his utter exhaustion. Still clenched in his lax grip was a wooden handle, all that remained of the mighty Mjølnir. He had poured every ounce of power he had available. He had nothing left. The Godblast was a concentrated attack, meaning the most damage was done at the epicenter. The power to destroy entire stars condensed into a relatively small beam. "W-Wanda," he mumbled softly.

Down below, Stephen's shield – capable of protecting him from a point-blank supernova explosion – had triggered automatically. When the attack was over, it dissipated, revealing that he and Wanda were safe and sound. "Oh my god," she whispered when she beheld the complete and utter devastation around her. Stephen, for his part, was mostly unphased. "Is he dead?"

Stephen's unyielding gaze rested on the annihilated wreckage where Raven's Spire once stood. A tower of silver smoke surrounded the impact area, obscuring even the sharpest of eyes. When her question finally registered with him, his eyes narrowed. "No."

Suddenly, a silver figure shot out of the tower of smoke and streaked toward Thor. Before he could react, Doom buried his fist into his torso so deeply, that it came precariously close to erupting out of his back.

Thor spit up a fountain of blood that splash against Doom's unfeeling faskmask.

The next instant, Doom's free hand slammed into the god's face with such thunderous force that it sent Thor flying for miles until he crashed through a pair of mountains that were barely visible on the horizon. Doom was on him within seconds, unwilling to give him a chance to so much as breath, much less do anything else.

He palmed his head and raised him up. "It would be so easy to kill you," he stated as he began to tighten his grip around his skull like a vice. The thunder god's dense bones began to crack, causing him to roar in pain. "The fact that Odin entrusted _you_ with the protection of his beloved city is laughable. How easily you fell to my might. Even now, you scream in agony. It should be quite clear who the true god is between the two of us."

He released Thor and booted him through a third mountain. With a snap of his fingers, his tunic and cape were restored to their original luster, after having been burned away by the Godblast. "I would allow you the time to consider the monumental force standing before you, but you can have an eternity for that in... what's it called? Valhalla?" He chuckled and formed an energy ball in his hand. Just the energy feedback bleeding off the ball warped the air around it. "Goodbye."

He fired the blast at Thor. It connected and erupted, obliterating the remaining mountain range and everything as far as the eye could see.

"Hmph." Doom approached the well leading the Asgard and climbed inside. When he reemerged, he immediately caught sight of Coulson and May talking urgently between themselves. "Director Coulson. At last we meet, face to face."

"Shit!" Coulson, May, and whatever SHIELD agents were available drew their handguns and opened fire.

The bullets would have pinged harmlessly off his armor on any average day. On today of all days, he didn't even notice them. "I would liken your rapidly approaching death to removing a thorn from my side, but to call you and your futile resistance a thorn would be to call a mouse a predator. At best, you have inconvenienced me once." He swatted May and the other agents away with a shockwave created by merely waving his hand. "Well, I do hate inconveniences."

The heroes, along with the Asgardians, convened on Doom at once. A wide variety of powers and abilities were thrown at him, some at the same time, others as soon as an 'opportunity' present itself.

Throughout it all, Doom stood stock still. He dared not make a single movement, either out of a need to defend, or to capitalize on a opening. Not because he was unable, but he wanted to show them firsthand how futile their efforts truly are. Not once did an attack that landed – which was mostly all of them – even so much as tickle, let alone cause any damage. _This... this is the power of the Allfather._

With a wave of his hand, he sent a force wave that blew everyone back. "This is the best you could assemble, Coulson?" he demanded. "I would be insulted if it wasn't so amusing. Even the gods of Asgard bend and break to my whims."

He grabbed Luke Cage, practically plucking him off the ground with one smooth motion, and buried his fist into his abdomen. Luke coughed up a gob of blood and groaned breathlessly. "Harlem's Defender? Pah!" He tossed him into Cyclops with enough force to knock his optic blast askew, causing it to steak harmlessly into the sky.

Logan lunged at him claws first from behind. With a simple gesture, Doom stopped him dead in his tracks. With another gesture, he ripped the adamantium from his bones, a process that caused him excruciating pain.

"Logan!" Ororo screamed.

Doom tossed the feral mutant aside like trash and approached the weather witch. She backed away cautiously. "Is that fear I sense in you, dear Storm?" He was behind her in an instant, and grabbed her by both arms.

"You will release her at once!" T'Challa bellowed as he lunged at him, antimetal claws at the ready.

"Your sentiment betrays you, King." As he spoke, he hurled Storm at T'Challa with enough force to not only halt his momentum cold, but send them both careening into a cluster of nearby trees. Not only that, but the suddenness of it caused him to impale her with nine of his ten claws, with only his left pinkie missing any of her vulnerable flesh.

"NO! Ororo!" T'Challa immediately retracted his claws and gently rolled her over onto her back. There was no response outside of a soft gurgle, accompanied by a thick steam of blood leaking out of the corner of her mouth. "Nceda ndixolele, uthando lwam," he whispered in her ear.

 _{A/N: Forgive me, my love}_

Doom continued his assault without hesitation or mercy, until every single hero that Coulson assembled to combat him was on the ground, beaten and broken. Many were unconscious, others still awake but too hurt to do anything but groan in pain.

He gazed down at the fallen heroes, his facemask hiding any emotion. While such a feeling was beneath him, he actually felt pity for them. They had tried so hard, sacrificed so much to stymie his efforts the last two days, only for those sacrifices to all be rendered in vain. Doom's will was as absolute as it was inevitable. He was going to achieve success, regardless of who stood in his way. Coulson's ragtag group of nuisances was nothing more than a series of speedbumps.

Doom's oldest and most hated enemy, Reed Richards, grunted softly and struggled to rise to his knees. "Yes, how fitting. The overrated 'genius' bends at the knee before his superior."

"Y-you haven't won yet, Victor," Reed gritted through his teeth. He clenched an arm around his midsection and rose to his feet. "You'll fail."

"Me? Fail?" He howled with laughter, throwing his head back as his guffaws echoed into the dark midnight sky. "How absurd! Doctor Doom does not fail." He blasted Reed back, leaving him stretched out in a smoldering crater. "I have planned meticulously for months, watching and waiting for the perfect moment to strike." He lifted Reed by the neck and slapped him across the face. This caused his head to careen into a nearby piece of rubble, cracking it apart, before slowly snapping back into place. "The moment I chose to enact my first step, I had already won.

"This was foreordained, Richards. My ascension was recorded in the book of prophecies. It's not my fault that you don't pay attention to simplest things."

Reed spat out a gob of blood onto his facemask. "Then finish it, Victor. Talk too much and you'll trip yourself up like you always do."

Doom responded by slamming him into the ground, leaving him amid the broken and cracked earth. "As always, eh? How many times have I held the very power of the gods in my palm? Even the Power Cosmic utterly pales in comparison! There is no need to kill you, Richards; I cannot be beaten! Not now, and not ever."

His cape flowed regally in the wind as he turned and began to walk toward the palace. "I won't kill you. Rather, I consign you all to a life of abject terror. Live the rest of your days and witness the reign of Doom, and realize that you are no longer important enough for me to notice, much less destroy. Goodbye, Richards. I would say it was nice knowing you, but bwahahahah!"

Once Doom entered the palace, all was quiet. The heroes that were still conscious after his overwhelming attack had grown silent to avoid detection. Even after he left, they remained quiet as the weight of his words, backed up by action, finally resonated with them.

"I feel like such a coward," Wanda hissed. She and Stephen rose from their hiding places, an unconscious and badly injured Thor laying at their feet. "We should have done something, Stephen. Anything!"

"There was nothing to do, Wanda," he answered calmly. "Odin is many measures stronger than I am, and I have none of my artifacts available for summoning. It would have been a quick and painful battle, with me on the losing end. It's smarter and more prudent to retreat while Doom is feeling merciful and regroup elsewhere."

It was clear she didn't agree, but she had no choice. She knew she stood no chance by herself or even backed up by the Sorcerer Supreme. "Fine. Let's get back to the Sanctum."

"No. He expects us to go there and will likely be keeping an eye on it. No, I know of another place."

Doom had done the impossible and defeated the most powerful god in Asgard and stolen his strength. A feat they had only a slim hope of reciprocating. It was a SHIELD plan that led to his ascension, and – with hope – it would be that same SHIELD plan that led to his downfall. Doom had shown them an incredible mercy by sparring them when he had the power, reason, and chance to eliminate them before they became an issue later. Whether it was his ego or thirst to display his power against a heavy resistance, they didn't know.

Not that it mattered.

They had a chance, and they had to do the most with it.

With a brilliant burst of golden light, the assembly vanished, returned to Earth to regroup, heal, and refocus on the new monumental task set before them.

Victor von Doom had proven that it wasn't impossible to defeat a god with the proper amount of preparation and help. Even then, he caught lightning in a bottle.

They just needed to catch lightning in a bottle again.


	17. Divine Repayment

_**Divine Repayment**_

 **Asgard**

He could feel it. The heroes had turned tail and ran, much like Loki knew they would. When confronted with a power so overwhelmingly above them, they fell back on their human instincts and indulged in the flight half of fight or flight.

Loki felt no conflict at having sacrificed his adoptive father at Doom's feet. He had good reason to. Whatever he planned on doing with the Odinforce – be it conquer Midgard or the universe – was his own business; Loki's reason for joining this new iteration of the Masters of Evil and invading his adoptive home was simple.

Doom possessed an infinity gem; the time gem to be pedantic. Loki highly doubted that even a mortal of Doom's intelligence and insight knew to the fullest extent the gem's power, and that was to his advantage. When they struck their deal before all this madness took place, Loki referred to the gem as a bauble, an Asgardian artifact that he needed to handle his own affairs. Doom, either out of desperation or ignorance, went along with it.

He walked quickly toward Odin's Court, where he was certain Doom was currently. He halted in his tracks when he heard the distinct sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard. "Mother?"

Frigga stood between him and his destination, expression ablaze with a fierce glare. "So, you remember at least one member of your family. You would dare to betray your home?!" she hissed. She took a dangerous step forward, prompting him to take on back in turn.

"This," he spoke, raising a calming finger, "is not my home. It never was."

"Never was. For thousands of years, I held you like you were my own. Odin raised you like a prince, gave you _every_ privilege he gave Thor, Balder, Tyr, and Hermod. You _are_ our son, Loki. The fact that you were adopted... how can that suddenly erase the millennia of love and adoration we rained upon you without end?"

Loki wished to respond, to argue that for those millennia, he had been lied to to his face without end. From the beginning, Odin _knew_ that he was not his son. Frigga _knew_ that he was not her son. _And yet, she loves me still the same._ He shook that thought from his head. "Aye. Easily. The betrayal—"

"You _dare_ speak of betrayal after what you have done this night?! Delivering your fath—"

"Odin is _NOT_ my fa—"

"You delivered the man who raised you as his own son to the feet of that mad man!" she yelled over him. "Your brothers were in chains, Loki. Your people were dragged away like slaves. Even now, your only remaining brother fought for his life against the man who stole the Odinforce." Just the mention of Thor's condition brought her to tears. She never saw him, but could feel when his life was in peril. She knew he was unconscious and clinging to life by a scant thread.

Loki could feel his chest tightening with every word she spoke. To see his mother so direly distraught over the night's events killed him more painfully than her blade ever would. His eyes cast down to said weapon; it leaned precariously in her lax grip, threatening to slip through her fingers.

"And for what?" Her gripped tightened and as she flipped it hilt over blade, Loki stepped back, fearing the unthinkable. When she merely stabbed it into the floor, he silently sighed with relief. "For what reason would you turn your back on your family? On me?"

He opened his mouth to speak, to answer, but no words came forth. For only the second time in his life – the first being when Sigyn confessed her loved for him hundreds of years ago – the Master of Lies was without words.

Just then, a set of sharp footsteps attracted their attention. Behind Frigga, Sigyn approached cautiously. When she saw Loki's face drop, she hastily turned around and tried to sneak away.

"Hold, Sigyn," Frigga commanded. "Come forth."

At her Queen's behest, Sigyn sheepishly turned back around and walked toward them. Her hands were clasped behind her back; without doubt she had the tesseract in her possession. _Mayhap I should have told her to leave it in our bedchamber._

"What is that behind your back, child?"

"I— Nothing, my Queen."

"Do not seek to deceive me, girl. Not on this night. What is behind your back? I will not ask again." Her fingers lightly grasped the hilt of her blade; the very blade that cleaved through his true father's – Laufey – arm.

As like a child confronted with her sins, Sigyn brought her hands out in front of her. Gripped tightly in the fingers of one was the clear, cylindrical case containing the tesseract. Its otherworldly essence filled the hallway with an eerie blue light.

To say Frigga was disappointed in them both was a vast understatement. "So, this is what this has led to," she uttered, her voice betraying all of her anger and disenchantment. "This cursed cube is the reason you have led us to the slaughter! Of what need does the emerald mortal have of it?!"

"It does not concern Doom," he answered softly. "Nor does it you."

"It does," she argued sharply. "It does because _you_ are my concern. Every action you take is a concern of mine, especially when it involves your well-being." She tried to reach for the container, only for Loki to grab her wrist. "Let go of me."

"Nay. Mother, this... this is well beyond you. You know not how direly I need this cube." There was a desperation in his voice that betrayed the intense, primordial fear that had long swallowed his heart. He remembered clearly the words, for the haunted his dreams every night.

" _There is no realm, no barren moon, no crevice where he cannot find you. You think you know pain. He will make you long for something as sweet as pain."_

He swallowed a haggard shudder and snatched the container from Sigyn with his free hand.

"Loki."

He dared to look her in the eye, and saw nothing but the warm concern he had always seen in the eyes of his mother. In days gone by, it filled his heart with joy to know that she still loved him despite all he had done. At that moment, it filled whatever piece of his heart that had not been annexed by the fear of the Mad Titan with a dread that what he was about to do would drive Frigga away forever.

"I am truly sorry, Mother." It was the most honest thing he had said in as long as he could remember.

Without another word, he pushed her through the dark blue portal he opened behind her.

"LOK—!" was all she managed before it closed behind her.

The weight of his actions, despite how genuine their intentions were, sapped what strength his legs had left. He stumbled back and collided with the solid wall. Slowly, he slid down until he was seated on the floor.

"Beloved," Sigyn whispered softly as she fell seated beside him. Her arm curled around his shoulders to pull him into a warm embrace. When he melted into it without question, she smiled sadly. "Worry not, my love. I am certain that you used the tesseract to send Her Highness somewhere safe. No harm will befall her, yes?"

He nodded once, eyes unfocused and penetrating some far off thing in the unending distance.

"Loki?"

"You should leave. 'Tis not safe here."

She frowned, but did not pull away.

"I have much left to do." He rose to his feet slowly, then held out a hand to help her do the same. "When I return, you should have departed by then. I will find you."

She had learned in the past not to argue or try and convince him to change his mind when he got like this, so she merely nodded. One final kiss was shared between them. Sigyn's lips lingered on his for a second longer. "I love you, Loki."

"I love you, Sigyn." He watched her depart, his heart aching for more of her touch. He shoved that feeling down and steeled himself. His resolved and air of aloof confidence returned in stride. With all of that behind him, he continued on his way.

"I believe," he said as he walked into the Court, "it is time for you to hold up your end of our agreement."

Doom was standing at the foot of Odin's throne, looking curiously artwork on the wall, which displayed Odin and Thor battling Hela and her undead horde at the beginning of a Ragnarok thousands of years ago. "Indeed. I must admit that I would have had a much more difficult time accomplishing this feat without you." He reached into a small portal and pulled out the adamantium box Sasha Barron placed the time gem in a few months. He tossed it to Loki, who caught it easily.

Loki opened the box and was immediately bathed in the luminescent orange glow emanating from the ancient stone. _The power over time itself, in the palm of my hand._ "I thank you, good doctor. I bid you ado." He left quickly. _Now, with both gems in my possession, I can settle my debt the Titan and finally breath easily again._

"Wait a minute," Doom called after him. When Loki stopped and turned around, he saw that Doom had opened the hidden vault behind Odin's throne. The very vault that was never opened, for upon its opening, the Over Sword of Asgard risked being unleashed. "What is this?"

Loki's heart skipped a beat. Several actually. "I know not," he lied easily. "Odin never opened that compartment."

"For good reason, I can imagine." Doom reached inside and pulled out the sword. A sudden, eerie whisper echoed loudly through the Court, rushing past them like the rustling of a stiff breeze. "Intriguing."

Loki felt his mouth grow arid. He knew that once Doom unsheathed that sword, all would be lost; yet, he did nothing to stop him. He had another bargain to keep.

* * *

 _ **Niffleheim – Hel**_

 _Loki stepped through his daughter's dank, dark palace in Niffleheim with the same ease he did whenever he found himself there. The macabre decorations of warriors long dead and twisted into this shape and that didn't frighten him so much as they amused him. It was as if Hela was trying a bit too hard to make herself out to be intimidating._

 _Then again, he knew that was not the case._

 _He found Hela on her throne, a servant kneeling before her. It wasn't until he was midway from the entrance of her throne room to the throne itself that he realized that the servant was doing more than offering obeisance to his mistress. "Ugh."_

" _Father!" Hela barked, out of irritation at her worship being interrupted than out of embarrassment. Despite knowing her father was right there, she did not cease the undead warrior's carnal ministrations._

" _Do you mind?" asked Loki, irritation of his own leaking into his words._

 _She sighed and waved the warrior away. Loki scoffed and averted his eyes until she could make herself decent._

" _Now that you have ruined my morning worship, to what do I owe this pleasure?"_

 _He returned his gaze to her, only to find her grinning sharply at him. Between the razor thin grin, her wavy hair, and her piercing green eyes, it was like he was looking in a mirror. "I have come to bargain." Her eyebrows raised curiously. "An associate of mine wishes to wage a war with the Allfather here in Niffleheim. When he gains victory, he also wishes to make use of Raven's Spire to steal the Odinforce," he explained._

 _One of her eyebrows lowered, leaving its twin arched high. "That is a... expensive proposal. And what, pray tell, are you offering me in exchange?"_

 _His daughter was depraved in her imagination. If he left it up to her, there was no telling what she would make him give her. Still, he felt compelled to leave it in her hands, as Doom was asking much. Niffleheim was sure to be destroyed in the pending conflict. "What would you have of me?"_

" _Well," she pondered as she crossed her legs. "You say the Allfather shall fall during the battle with this 'associate' of yours. Very well. Ensure that he triggers Ragnarok and we shall have an accord."_

 _If Loki had been drinking anything, he would have spit it out. "Ragnarok? Are you mad, child?" She leaned back in her throne and crossed her arms. "You do recall that Ragnorok means the end of everything, yes? Have we not been down this path countless times already?"_

 _She stood and approached him. Even barefoot as she was, she towered over him by a good eight inches. "When triggered by the Over Sword of Asgard, 'tis not like all the rest. The forces of evil will increase in power still, but without the prophecy to guide the events, 'tis not unlike embarking in uncharted waters."_

 _What she said made sense. Even if it didn't make any sense, what choice did he have? "Very well. You allow us entrance into Niffleheim and use of Raven's Spire, and I shall ensure that my associate triggers Ragnarok."_

" _Then, we have reached an accord." She grinned again and floated back to her throne. "Until then, father."_

" _Until then, my dear."_

* * *

Hela had kept her end of the bargain, not even complaining when nearly her entire realm was reduced to one massive crater. Now, it was time for Loki to keep his end.

And to do it, he needed not lift one finger.

"A divine weapon befitting a divine being," Doom decreed before pulling the sword free from its scabbard.

The rustling-like whisper grew to a roar, a clarion call that echoed through the nine realms. Then, after fifteen chilling, spine-tingling seconds, all was silent.

"Hm," Doom hummed curiously. "What manner of omen was that?"

To that, Loki shrugged. "I know not. I have no experience with that blade, and Odin was mum as to its purpose. I can only assume that... disturbance was the sword becoming attuned to its new master. T'would be fitting indeed." With that said, he nodded and took his leave. _And now, my business with Hela is concluded. One more pressing matter, then I can finally free myself of all burdens._


	18. Praying For A Solution

_**Praying for a Solution**_

 **The Damocles**

Steve's eyes fluttered open slowly, gradually allowing the bright, sterilized light to filter in. Even at the decreased rate, it still burned to go from utter darkness to blinding light so suddenly. He tried to sit up and figure out where he was – he was on something soft, so it couldn't have been Asgard – but a small hand pressed down on his chest to stop him.

"Please, Steve, don't get up," a woman spoke. The accent belonged to Wanda. "I just got started with your healing. I'll be a few minutes."

"Where...?" he started, only to stop when he heard how weak and feeble he sounded.

"The Damocles," she answered.

He could feel a sudden rush of warmth hit his chest and spread through his entire body, quickly followed by a cool rush of air. He sighed contently and let his head hit the pillow under him.

Thanks to the meetings with the WSC, Steve knew that the Damocles was SWORD's mobile command center, similar to SHIELD's Zephyr One. Unlike the Zephyr, though, the Damocles was stationed in Earth's orbit. Meaning they were in outer space at the moment.

"I don't think I've ever gotten my ass kicked so thoroughly before," Tony chuckled bitterly, followed by a pained groan.

"Mr. Stark, please stay still," chastised an exasperated Stephen.

"I have to fix my suit."

"You can't fix anything with your arm hanging on by a single tendon."

Tony huffed, but placidly complied.

He had never seen anything like it before. One moment, Steve and those with him – Tony, Luke, Brunnhilda, Volstagg, Peter, and Natasha – had just defeated the Wrecking Crew and finished clearing the Bifrost Bridge; the next moment, Doom was snapping Steve's leg like a twig and hurling him five feet underground. It was a miracle that he was even still alive, much less able to do much of anything outside of blink and talk weakly.

He didn't know how Doom managed to get so powerful, but he treated every last one of them like they were children.

The door to the medical wing slid open. "You guys look like shit." The voice belonged to Director Brand.

"Better to look like shit than smell like it," Peter quipped.

"At least one of us can find humor in this," May said dryly. "Is just about everyone healed?"

"Almost," Stephen replied. "Healing magic is regrettably not my forte, but I can manage. Unfortunately, Doom specifically targeted Daniel, so he is unable to help."

Steve turned his head and caught sight of Danny's bloodied, lumpy face. Cuts and bruises littered his entire face and torso. He knew they would escape, so he injured their best healer to stymie their retaliation for a little while longer.

Not that it mattered. They were going to be hard-pressed to beat someone that powerful.

"What the hell happened to Doom?" Tony demanded. "He wasn't nearly that powerful the last time I faced him."

"In short," Wanda answered, "he stole Odin's power."

A cold silence swept through the wing like a stiff winter breeze. "How?" was all Steve could manage. At least his voice was stronger.

May sighed. "He stole a SHIELD plan that was designed to steal the Odinforce."

"SHIELD has done a lot of stupid shit in its time," Tony growled, ignoring Stephen's protests as he hopped off the bed to confront May, "but this takes the fucking cake."

"It's not what you think," she replied calmly. "Fury... when Fury found out how powerful Odin was, he got scared. Not of Odin, but of the possibility that someone could steal his power. Situations like it have happened too many times to call it improbable. That fear led him to contacting a group of sorcerers to draft a ritual they could use to steal the Odinforce _back_ in case someone stole it."

"And ironically, someone used that plan to steal the Odinforce from Odin." Tony sighed and sat back down on the bed he had been laying on. "Great. Any ideas how to get it back."

"Nope. Once Doom stole the ritual details, he deleted them from our servers. None of us had any idea it even existed until Coulson said something yesterday."

"He _knew_ this was going to happen?"

"I had my suspicions, but didn't want to distract from what was happening at the time," Coulson himself explained when he stepped inside and stood between Brand and May. "I honestly didn't think Doom would be so brazen."

"You must not know Vic very well," Johnny muttered.

"Apparently not. Going after the Silver Surfer is a bit below going after Odin." He pulled his hands form his pockets and crossed his arms. "Alright, solutions. Let's get brainstorming. The more time we waste, the more time Doom has to do some serious damage."

Which meant there was no time to rest after healing to get their minds right. As soon as everyone was able to stand, they had to get started on mounting their counterattack.

"How powerful is your father, Thor?" Sue asked.

Thor grunted softly as he raised into a sitting position and swung his legs around over the edge of his bed. "He is easily the most powerful god in existence, save for The One Above All. He is more powerful than the likes of Thanos, but weaker than Galactus or the Phoenix." He noticed Scott Summers grimace at the mention of Phoenix and grimaced himself. "He is more powerful than all of us put together. We stand no chance against Doom."

"Just check optimism at the door, huh," Janet muttered. "We have to try something. We can't just let Doom do whatever he wants." She looked at Coulson and May. "Can't we just steal the Odinwhatever back?"

"The ritual needs four master sorcerers," Coulson answered. "We only have three, right? Maximoff, Strange, and Clea."

Stephen nodded grimly. "There are many more sorcerers both on Earth and scattered across the cosmos, but we have don't have the time to find them and bring them here. Even if we did, none of them are powerful enough to perform their role in the ritual. Balance and precision are key. One false step or falter for just a moment and the results will be catastrophic."

"Meaning?" Tony dared to ask.

"Meaning Odin's power will leak out and destroy the galaxy."

"Okay, that's bad." Tony rubbed his goatee, the wheels in his head turning in search of a solution. "Alright, magic is a no go." He didn't seem too broken up about that. "What about tech? Some kind of power absorption device."

"One strong enough to drain the Odinforce?" Clint wondered. "And all while Doom just stands there and lets us drain him? I don't see it. Maybe Reed has something?"

Mr. Fantastic rubbed his chin in thought for several moments. "There is something we can use, but we won't find it on Earth." When all eyes were on him, he continued. "It's called the muonic inducer. It can convert large amounts of matter into energy in a matter of minutes."

"Alright! So, where can we find it?"

"That's the thing," Reed said with a tight frown. "It belongs to Galactus."

Clint didn't seem to understand what the big deal was. "Okay, so let's go find him and ask him if we can borrow it. Or steal it. Whatever we have to do, let's just do it quickly."

"Friend archer," Thor spoke, a grave tone accompanying his words. "I do not believe you quite comprehend what it is you are suggesting. To steal from Galactus is a death sentence. Not just for us, but for the planet Earth."

"Okay," Clint drawled. "So, what's this Galactus guy's deal?"

To that, Coulson smiled wryly. "In short, he eats planets for a living."

For a very long moment, Clint stared at Coulson, complete bemused as to what he was smiling about. It was after a few minutes that something he said years ago suddenly popped in his head.

* * *

 _ **SHIELD Helicarrier – Five Years Ago**_

" _Shit," Tony mumbled as he scrubbed his face. "Alright. This means we need to double security around the Tower. No one go anywhere by yourselves. These Widows have fairy tale stealth and can probably kill you with a piece of yarn and a straw, so let's be careful out there."_

 _Pietro cleared his throat as he processed the information given quickly. "Seems everything is proceeding according to schedule. Our enemies reveal themselves slowly one by one. It won't be much longer before they start making their moves."_

" _A Chinese nationalist with magic rings, an Asgardian magician, and an evil Black Widow," Clint listed, checking the three off with his fingers. "Next, we'll have to fight a guy who eats planets for a living." He shook his head._

" _I'm pretty sure you just jinxed us," Tony said absently._

 _Clint clinched up and scowled at the billionaire._

* * *

"Oh God," he whispered. He dared to hazard a glance at Tony. Sure enough, the genius billionaire was glaring darkly at him.

"Way to go, Clint," Natasha remarked sarcastically.

In a mystifying bit of bad timing, Coulson burst into uproarious laughter.

"Well," Steve almost shouted to regain some semblance of order in the impromptu meeting. "We have a way to drain the Odinforce out of Doom, but will that be enough to contain it, Dr. Richards?"

"No," he answered immediately. "The inducer is installed into another machine that Galactus uses to absorb the newly converted energy into his being. Without that machine, I imagine Odin's power would just leak out, much how Stephen said would happen if a single mistake were to occur with the ritual. We need some kind of device capable of holding that much power."

"The M'Kraan crystal," Ororo uttered.

"Good idea, 'Ro," Logan agreed.

"What's the M'Kraan crystal," Coulson queried after he calmed down sufficiently.

"It is a large crystal protected by the Shi'ar empire," she answered. "They say that it contains a neutron galaxy inside. Whether that is true or not, I do not know. But, I do know that it contains a vast amount of energy. More than enough to prove capable of containing the Odinforce once we drain it from Doom."

"How difficult will it be to get this crystal?" Thor asked.

"Well, we can't take the whole thing," Scott answered. "If we tried, the crystal would open up a black hole big enough to swallow the entire universe."

"But, we're tight with the Empress, Lilandra," Bobby followed up. "I'm sure she'll let us take a piece of it. We shouldn't need much more than a shard, right?"

Reed nodded. "If it's as powerful as you say, then a simple shard should suffice. Once we have both components, I'll figure out someway to make them work the way we need them to."

Steve nodded. They had a plan in place, and two clear objectives to complete. The muonic inducer, combined with the M'Kraan crystal, was their only hope of defeating Doom and returning Odin's power back to him.

The only question was how were they going to get there. Galactus and the Shi'ar empire didn't sound like they were even in the same galaxy as them. Not that he hoped someone like Galactus was anywhere near him or Earth. "Alright. Only concern is how we're going to get there."

Brand stepped forward. "SWORD tangles with extraterrestrials all the time, so we pick up a few bits and bobs every now and then. Like this." She held up a pair of small black boxes with silver buttons on the top. "This is a Nuwali teleportation device we found in the Savage Land. We managed to make another, with Richards' help." She handed one to Steve and the other to Scott. "I'll have my people find Galactus and find out where the M'Kraan crystal is being kept today, then I'll get back to you."

As she left, Coulson spoke up. "Rogers, Summers, pick your teams and prepare to leave as soon as Brand gets back with our intel. The rest of you, we have a much harder future ahead of us. I'll explain later."

With that, he and May left.

His final words weighed heavily on everyone's minds. Some of the more intuitive had an idea on what he was talking about, but didn't say anything just yet.

He planned on buying them some time, in the form of a direct assault on Castle Doom. It was as stupid as it was suicidal, but there wasn't much else they could do. Just sitting around waiting was unacceptable.


	19. The Eater of Worlds

_**The Eater of Worlds**_

Steve chose Carol, Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Clint for the mission against Galactus. Clint just insisted on coming so he could see this so-called 'World Eater' with his own two eyes. Scott, for his team, chose Ororo, T'Challa, Logan, Bobby, and Luke. Wanda and Stephen opted to stay behind to search for any master class sorcerer they could call in just in case either team was unable to complete their mission.

"Alright," Brand spoke once the two teams assembled in the briefing room, "the M'Kraan crystal is located here, on the Shi'ar throneworld, Chandilar. According to my intelligence, Lilandra is still in power, so the X-Men and company should have zero issues getting a shard. Get in, get out and back here as quickly as possible. Now, as for Rogers' team."

She activated the holographic projector in front of her, and displayed a pink planet orbited by a single moon. "Galactus is currently located on Tarnax IV. Evidently, he plans on, well, eating the planet, which means he'll have his muonic inducer with him. Getting it off of him will probably be nearly impossible, but nearly impossible is what you guys do. Right?"

Steve swallowed nervously, and nodded. "Right." He had never had to face a being who needed to absorb a planet's worth of energy just to survive. The power Galactus possessed must have been mind-boggling. "We'll figure something out."

Bobbi, before they left, quickly ran up and gave Clint a kiss on the cheek for good luck. "Please be careful, Hawk."

"Pssh. I got this babe. I'll beat this Galactic guy with one arrow."

With their teams chosen and briefed, and their objectives clear and understood, the two teams departed in twin bursts of smoky black light.

* * *

 **Tarnax IV, The Skrull Empire Throne-world**

Tarnax IV.

A world rife with technology far, far superior and more sophisticated than anything Earth had to offer. Even Reed Richards, Wakanda, and Latveria paled in comparison. Thousands of years of adaptation and wars waged against the Kree empire forced the Skrulls to advance themselves to keep up with their eternal rivals. When the Kree came up with a new innovation, the Skrull jumped at the opportunity to surpass them.

The current city Steve's team materialized in was vast and spacious. The roadways wound and twisted around and through buildings, making transportation around the city easier and convenient. The buildings themselves were tall and massive, reminding them of the skyscrapers of Manhattan, only sleeker and shinier. The ground from where they were currently standing wasn't visible, obscured from sight by a thick fog, or perhaps even smoke.

The latter was the more likely culprit. The city was engulfed in utter chaos. Fight jets dropped energy bombs that exploded in the distance. Foot soldiers marched in unison down the roads, on their way to do battle with an unknown enemy. Galactus, by their guess.

Galactus himself wasn't hard to find. Clad in purple armor with a large horned helmet, the behemoth stood at three hundred feet tall, at minimum. With a simple wave of his hand, he made an entire fleet of jet vanish in a sparkle of green energy.

"H-holy shit," Clint uttered in sheer, unmitigated awe.

With a single swipe of his arm, Galactus leveled three buildings at once. The ground shook as the architectural structures collapsed to the ground, filling the air below them with dust and debris.

"Why is Galactus at war with the Skrull?" Steve asked.

"He's not," Sue answered. "He's here to consume the planet. See those machines over there?" She pointed to the massive silver machines some distance behind Galactus. "Those machines are what he uses to convert matter to energy so he can absorb it."

"And in one of those machines is the muonic inducer," Reed stated. "Look, Galactus owes me a favor for saving his life. I'll call that in to get him to let us borrow the inducer, then we can get out of here."

That sounded to be as safe and simple a plan as any of them could come up with, so they nodded and followed Reed down the road they arrived on in a direction that would bring them closer to the Eater of Worlds. With a name like that, it was a wonder how his legend hadn't reached Earth yet. Then again, humans only just learned of the existence of aliens six years ago during the Battle of Manhattan, and after another invasion by the Kree, they had only scratched the very surface of the unfriendly extraterrestrials and cosmic beings out there.

As they walked, Steve couldn't help but be drawn to the counterattacks initiated by the Skrull soldiers. He frowned contemplatively. "What did the Skrulls do to make Galactus want to consume their planet?"

"Nothing," Johnny shrugged. "Dude just eats whatever planet his heralds feel would fill him up the most. He's like a dog. He doesn't need a reason to eat his own shit, he just does it."

Vulgar as the comparison was, the sentiment was easy to understand. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Johnny raised an eyebrow. "Nah, I think he's got it."

"No, I mean the Skrulls."

"And risk pissing off Galactus? Are you mental?"

"No. If this is just some natural occurrence, then they didn't ask to be wiped out. We need to try and do something to help them. Either convincing Galactus to feed some uninhabited planet, evacuate the planet, or outright stop him." To Steve, it was simple. Innocent lives were at stake, and it was their duty as heroes to try and help them to the best of their abilities.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Carol and Clint nodding in agreement. He himself nodded, glad to have his friends' support. It was good they agreed, because the three members of the Fantastic Four were looking at him like he had just grown a second head out of his abdomen. "Cap, have you lost your mind?" Sue spoke slowly. "Do you have any idea what will happen to us if Galactus catches us interfering with him?" As if on cue, she jabbed her thumb toward the fleet of jets that were literally blinked out of existence. "That. A thought and poof. We're gone." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Look, I don't like this either, but what choice do we have? We have to save _our_ planet."

"So, that means we sacrifice the billions of people that live on this world to save the eight billion that live on ours?" Carol shook her head. "I don't like that trade. I don't care if this guy eats entire galaxies, we have to try something."

"And besides," Clint added, " _if_ we managed to save this planet, the Skrulls will owe us one, right? A favor we can call in at any time, like, oh I don't know, when the big purple alien with a bunch of shiny space rocks comes knocking on Earth's front door."

Clint made a good point. They were going to need as many allies as possible against Thanos. If the Skrull felt compelled to help them – either out of the goodness of their hearts or to return a kindness for a kindness – then that only made the upcoming fight that much easier. "Clint's right. Doom's our top priority, but we can't forget what's looming in the future."

"There won't _be_ a future if we don't stop Doom," Reed retorted.

Reed, as much as he wanted to argue, was right. Doom was the top priority, and if he won their final battle, they wouldn't have to worry about Thanos. That, of course, was unacceptable.

Steve didn't reply, and Reed took that as his reluctant capitulation. With that seemingly settled, he continued to walk toward Galactus.

"I still say you're right," Carol whispered to him.

"Well, you're a little biased," he replied with a wry smile. "Thanks for having my back, guys."

"That's what friends are for, Cap," Clint said with a grin. "But, I don't know. This Galactus guy looks fucking strong as hell. And the FF know him a lot better than we do."

"But we can't just let the Skrulls get wiped out. Because I can't imagine him letting us take one of his crucial components until _after_ he's done feeding."

Clint didn't have a chance to answer, as Reed had already approached the area where Galactus was standing.

" **Reed Richards,"** he spoke, his voice – threaded with an ancient power that rattled their bones to the marrow – boomed well into the horizon, **"I sensed you the moment you stepped foot on this planet. Why do you seek to interrupt my consumption?"**

"I'm sorry, Galactus," Reed apologized sincerely, "but, I need to ask you to repay the favor you owe me."

If Galactus had eyebrows, one of them would have been raised. **"I owe you no favor, Reed Richards."** Before Reed could argue, he continued. **"Silence, mortal. I know well of what you speak. Your saving my life was an appreciated gesture of kindness, but did not place me in your debt. It actually repaid a previous boon you and the planet Earth owed to me, when I swore never to devour your homeworld. We are now even."** The finality of that statement was all they were going to get out of him, as he turned his attention back to the Skrull army.

"Oh, no!" Sue gasped. "Now what do we do?"

"I... I don't..." Reed suddenly looked at Steve, a look of resignation on his face. "I thought we could take the easy way, but apparently not. Looks like we do it your way, Captain."

Steve nodded, but didn't take any joy in it. "It's was worth a shot, Reed. Now, what do we need to do to shut down this whole operation?"

Reed took a moment to think and ponder over what he knew of Galactus' feeding process. "Unless he's changed his process in the last few years, there should be three machines nearby that drill into the planet's core to allow the muonic inducer to covert the core into energy. There." He point to a large machine with three arms that were buried deep into the ground. If they listened carefully – as well as they could over the bombs exploding nearby, jets flying overhead, and energy rifles barking out round after round – they could hear the drills boring into the planet's crust. "See those silver cylinders that look like overturned trash cans? Those are power cores. If we destroy those, then the entire machine is rendered useless."

"Will that stop Galactus from feeding?"

"Yes. Without a way into the core, he can't convert the planet into energy."

Steve nodded. "Perfect. Carol and Johnny, take care of that, for all three machines. Fly low; hopefully, Galactus is too busy with the Skrulls to notice."

They nodded and leaped off the road, flying inside the smoky haze below to mask their flight.

As for the rest of them, they ran into a building for cover and for a chance to think of a plan. "Okay, so I'm pretty sure as soon as Carol and Matchstick shut those drills down, Big G is gonna be pissed," Clint noted. "Is there anything, any weakness that we can exploit? Please?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid not," Reed answered regrettably. "Galactus, even as hungry as he is now, is one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe. Sue wasn't kidding when she said he could very easily blink us out of existence."

That wasn't what Clint wanted to hear, and it showed. "Why can't it ever be easy?" he lamented.

Steve chuckled and clapped the Avenging Archer on the shoulder. "If it was easy, it wouldn't nearly as fun."

Unbeknownst to the heroes, but three figures were watching and listening in from afar. The two males wore typical Skrull military uniforms – pink body armor with blue highlights at the shoulders, and black open-faced hoods covering their heads. The lone female was much more ornately dressed – a red and blue dressed that narrowed into a thin strip at the midriff, a long white cape and collar that was draped over her arms, and a golden crown resting over her long black hair. All three, just like the rest of their race, were green with long pointy ears, and ripply chins.

{Look, Your Highness, the reports were true,}* whispered one of the two males. {Terrans have invaded.}

( _ **A/N:**_ _Translated from the Skrull language)_

{And not just any terrans,} noted the other male, {but Reed and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four.}

{Curse that Reed Richards!} the female spat bitterly. {If it was not for him, then my planet would not be suffering Galactus' gluttonous wrath. Paibok, Kl'rt, destroy those wretched terrans!}

{With pleasure, Your Highness.}

"...lure him into the right spot, we should – theoretically – be able to set one of the machines to overload, causing a feedback loop that should – again, in theory – render him unconscious for approximately 1.566 – repeating, of course – seconds," Reed answered when asked if there was anything they could do to Galactus to allow them enough time to escape.

Steve nodded. "So, Sue retrieves the muonic inducer, then you set the machine to overload. It goes off, knocking Galactus out for a second and a half, which is more than long enough for us to get the hell out of here."

"Sounds like a plan to m—" Suddenly, Paibok and Kl'rt the Super Skrull lunged at the four heroes, taking them by surprise and blasting them out of the building and onto the roadway outside.

Kl'rt had the powers of all four members of the Fantastic Four, making him an exceptionally dangerous foe. He gained such powers from the Super Skrull program, an institution inspired by observations of Project: Rebirth, the experiment that gave Steve his strength, speed, and agility. Paibok the Power Skrull, on the other hand, was a highly trained espionage operative with extensive military skills. In addition to the general Skrull abilities – super strength, enhanced speed, durability, shape-shifting – he also could turn any air moisture to ice and could generate electric blasts. Such a blast was what sent the heroes flying out of the building.

Kl'rt and Paibok closed in on the fallen heroes with haste, not wanting to allow them a single second to recover. They were too late, as Clint managed to shoot a powerful shockwave arrow between the two incoming Skrulls. The concussive blast sent them careening in opposite directions and crash-landing on the hard ledge.

{Accursed terrans!} Kl'rt roared before turning invisible.

"Shit! He disappeared!" Clint and Steve huddled up next to Sue and Reed, facing out to avoid being taken by surprise. Against an invisible enemy, however, there was precious little one could do to avoid a sneak attack.

"Be careful. Kl'rt has all of our abilities," Sue warned. "And Paibok is just as dangerous in his own way."

"How right you are, Sue Richards," Paibok chuckled. A pair of large, bat-like wings sprouted out of his back and flapped, lifting him into the air. "Her Highness has decreed that we ensure your deaths. We will take great pleasure in killing you!" He dive-bombed toward them, then pulled up at the last second and dropped over a dozen razor sharp ice daggers on them.

Sue managed to get her shield up in time to not only block the daggers, but also block the tremendous blow from Kl'rt. "We're trying to save your planet," she gritted. "Our teammates are about to destroy Galactus' drills. Your planet will be safe in just a few minutes."

"Lies!" the Skrull Empress screeched from the doorway. "You lie through your teeth, simian wench! There is no stopping Galactus, and you leeches are here to scavenge whatever space dust is left! Destroy them all, my warriors!"

The two powered Skrulls roared in unison and closed in. Kl'rt stretched his body and wrapped himself around the four, cinching in tightly so they couldn't escape. Paibok soared above them and dropped green balls of condensed electric energy on them.

They howled in pain, and would have collapsed, had Kl'rt not been holding them up. "Show no mercy," the Empress commanded.

"Veranke, please!" Sue pleaded. "We're trying to help you!"

"You would DARE address Her Highness with such disrespect?!" Kl'rt slapped Sue across the face.

Blood flew from her mouth as her head whipped to the side. She was nearly unconscious from the blow. Nearly, but not even close to being out of the fight. "Fine," she snarled. She planted a small bubble in his brain, then expanded it quickly. The Super Skrull screamed in pain as his skull bulged outward like a precariously inflated bubble. It was only because of his powers that he survived the ordeal, but he wasn't going to be attacking anyone any time soon. As he fell to the floor, his grip on the heroes slackened enough for them to escape.

She quickly trapped an incoming Paibok in a bubble and contracted it. The force of the constriction shattered many of his bones like dry twigs. He fell to the floor, broken, bloody, and unconscious.

"My... my warriors," Veranke whispered in utter shock. She tried to run and escape, but Steve's shield clipped her ankle, tripping her. It then rebounded off the doorway and smacked her in the temple. She fell to the ground, down but not unconscious. "Must... escape... this doomed...world...," she muttered as she crawled inside the palace, presumably hoping to reach her ship, which was docked on the other side.

"You're going to abandon your people?" Steve demanded. "What kind of queen would leave her subjects to die?!"

She growled and shakily rose to her feet. "The Skrull Empire encompasses several galaxies, terran. What is a few billion to several trillion? What would happen if they found out the Empress was killed? Anarchy. Chaos. A civil war to usurp the throne." She turned and walked unsteadily toward her ship. "No. I cannot and will not allow such an upheaval to swallow my people. I am leaving, for the sake of my empire. Even if this planet perishes, the whole of the Skrull race will thrive still."

It was pragmatic, but Steve would have been lying if he didn't see the logic. It was twisted, demented logic, but it made sense. It was why he could never rule an empire like this. The decisions she had to make affected not just this planet, but countless worlds across multiple galaxies. It was mind-boggling to even consider a realm that expansive.

 _=Steve, Torch and I just finished. Headed your way now,=_ Carol chirped through the comms.

Steve turned and saw them approaching. Behind them, he saw the three core drills slowly grind to a halt, with several stacks of smoke billowing off each of them. He smiled and turned. "Your Highness, that won't be necessary. We just shut down Galactus' core drills."

"Your planet is safe, Your Highness," Reed confirmed.

The look on Veranke's face was nothing short of utter shock. Her eyes looked past the heroes, to Galactus' drills to see for herself. She could see the smoke billowing up from where the power cores once existed. Her lips quivered as tears threatened to fall from her eyes. "I... I do not know what to say. I..."

"You can start by saying 'Yes, Johnny, I will go out with you'." Johnny answered when he and Carol touched down next to the others. He winked at the Skrull queen and smirked coquettishly.

Veranke was completely taken aback by the brazen offer.

Sue slapped her brother upside the head. "Behave. We're not out of the woods just yet. We still need the muonic inducer."

He grumbled and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, well, Big G is pretty pissed."

"We know," Clint answered. "We already have a plan. Sue goes invisible and takes the inducer, then Reed sets one of his machines to overload. That should knock him out for a few seconds, long enough for us to get the hell out of here."

"Alright, alright. Sounds like a solid plan," Johnny admitted. He stroked his chin in thought. "Hey, quick question. Who's supposed to distract him long enough for Reed to mess with his machinery?"

"Good question, Johnny," Reed answered. That was all he said, as he then turned his attention to Veranke. "Your Highness, you need to pull your military out of here. Galactus will turn his attention to us, so their lives don't need to be put at any further risk."

The Skrull queen nodded and limped away, presumably to a place where such a communication could be made. Before she got to far, she stopped and turned to face them. She saluted them respectfully. "Thank you, terrans. The Skrull Empire, and I personally, am in your debt."

Hearing that made Steve smile for the first time since arriving on this world. "Your welcome, Your Highness." When she left, his smile faded. "Alright, team. We have a serious fight ahead of us, so let's get to it. Stay focused."

Outside, Galactus was incensed. He noticed Johnny and Carol, but didn't consider them worthy of his attention. By the time he realized what they were doing, it was too late. **"Who would dare interfere with the will of Galactus?"** He noticed Steve and the others hurrying out of the palace. **"I had thought that mere humans were beneath my notice. Very well. I shall deal with you myself."**

With that declaration, the team officially found themselves in a direct confrontation with the Eater of Worlds, one of the most powerful beings in the entire universe. If Steve's knees were shaking so badly at the very thought of being blinked out of existence, he would have started running down the road to lead him back to his machines. Instead, he stood stock still, body completely unable to make any kind of movement other than the subtle shivers of fear that racked his form.

"Steve, look out!" Carol grabbed him and lifted him into the air just in time to avoid a pair of green eyebeams that almost incinerated him. A large black mark was charred into the ground where he had been previously.

"Thanks." She set him down in front of a badly damaged building. If they continued down this road, it would take them right to Galactus' machines. He figured that he would hold back at that point, since damaging or potentially destroying his equipment wasn't worth exacting revenge against them. "Let's get moving."

As they ran, Galactus attacked them, not just with his own attacks, but also by summoning warriors as black as the darkest night. His punishers made up the majority of his army whenever he needed to wage war against anyone who defied him, and couldn't be bothered to handle them himself.

They weren't too much trouble, and didn't hinder their progression.

" **Enough. I have grown tired of your presumptuousness. You have prevented me from feeding, and for that, I will destroy you."**

It was now or never. Steve nodded to Sue, who nodded back and turned invisible.

" **You cannot hide from me, mortal. I see all things with the Power Cosmic."**

This was a serious problem. Their entire plan hinged on them being able to distract him long enough for Sue to steal the inducer and for Reed to set the machine to overload. If he spotted Sue before she could get started, the entire plan was rendered completely useless.

A massive blue ball of energy began to form in front of Galactus. They knew that if it hit them, it was all over. Carol flew up to try and absorb it, but Reed wrapped his arms around her. "Stop! It's too much. Trying to absorb that much energy will kill you!"

"I have to try something," she yelled back. She managed to escape his grasp and fired a blast in Galactus' face.

He didn't even notice it and continued charging his own attack.

"Shit. It didn't even make him blink."

"I got it," Johnny said suddenly. "Get ready, Sue. Flame on!" He shot into the air and made a direct beeline for the machine that housed the muonic inducer. Predictably, this attracted unwanted attention.

" **Get away from that."** Galactus' mighty hand – with find tendrils of energy attached to the energy blast – swiped at Johnny, but missed as he quickly ducked under it.

It was obvious that Johnny was trying to distract him long enough for Reed and Sue to get into position. While they ran off to the assignments, Carol flew up and helped Johnny while Steve and Clint kept the punishers off Reed's back.

Reed reached one of the machine controls and quickly scanned the console. It was covered in buttons and labels written in some strange language that normal humans would have had no hope in translating. Luckily, Reed Richards wasn't a normal human. He wasn't an expert in the language the controls were written in – which happened to be the language belonging to the race of beings of which Galactus was a member – but he knew enough to do what needed to be done.

His fingers flew from button to button, maxing out the energy output to the point that its energy core was going to explode with another push of a button. "Okay, ready," he said over the comm-link. "Sue?"

 _=Almost, hon.=_

Reed nodded and looked up to see Johnny and Carol circling around Galactus' head like two annoying gnats at a summertime picnic. He noticed that the energy blast he had been charging was at full power. If he released it, everything in the city would be incinerated in an instant. "Guys, get out of there!"

Clint glanced at Reed, then back at Galactus. Calmly, he drew a single arrow and notched it. He told Bobbi that he was going to beat Galactus with one arrow. This was that one arrow. Designed by T'Challa and Tony after a run-in with Living Laser, it was capable of absorbing and redirecting a tremendous amount of energy.

He shot it, sending it sailing into the energy ball. "Eat that."

To Reed and Steve's absolute shock, the ball of cosmic energy shrunk significantly, with a sizable portion of it exploding in Galactus' face. He wasn't hurt by any stretch, or even phased, but the blast managed to distract him long enough for Sue to pry the muonic inducer out of its housing.

"Fuck yeah!" Clint cheered. "Take that in the face!"

"No way," Reed whispered.

"I got it, Reed," Sue's voice floated in from nearby. "Set the machine off."

"Right. Carol and Johnny, fall back. I'm setting it to overload." Without waiting for a response, because every second counted, Reed pressed the final button. A loud, low-pitch hum echoed ominously from within as the machine started to pulsate violently. The heroes retreated to safety just as Galactus turn to see what was happening.

" **NO!"** he bellowed a mere moment before an enormous feedback loop belted into him, knocking him off his feet like a felled redwood. His colossal form fell backward and crashed through several buildings, bringing them down with him like an over-sized dominoes set.

Other than the rumble of an avalanche of debris below them, all was silent.

"We did it," Clint uttered softly.

"No, we didn't," Reed responded, knowing exactly what he was going to say before he said it. As if to confirm his words, Galactus let out a mighty roar and began to rise to his feet. "Time to go, folks." They gathered around Reed, who activated the teleportation device without hesitation.

* * *

Time passed on without further incident. Without the muonic inducer, Galactus was unable to feed on Tarnax IV. Though his rage was without measure, he didn't take his wrath out on the Skrull. Instead, he silently vowed to destroy Earth and the humans who interfered with his feeding. That vow was the last thing he said on the Skrull throne-world before departing. At that, the planet was finally safe.

Veranke watched his ship lift off through the atmosphere with bated breath, as if fearing that he would change his mind and reduced her beloved planet to space rubble. Such a thing never happened, and she allowed herself a relieved sigh.

{Accursed terrans,} Kl'rt grumbled. He walked gingerly up to Veranke, rubbing his head carefully until he was standing beside her. {With your permission, I will travel to Terra to exact revenge on the Fantastic Four and those other terrans, as well. They will not get away with—} He stopped when she held her hand up to silence him.

{Enough, my brave warrior. You do not realize what transpired here after you lost consciousness, so I will forgive this.} At his confusion, she sighed. {They saved our planet. Not only did they prevent the World Eater from devouring our world, but they also rendered him unconscious for a short time – a feat only the most powerful in the cosmos have ever been able to accomplish.}

When she recounted the events that took place during his forced slumber, Kl'rt the Super Skrull fell silent. {I...I see,} he said eventually.

{We owe them a debt of gratitude that only a reciprocative feat can measure out. Until then, we will do what we can.} She turned away from him, her gaze settling back to the ruins of her capital city. Buildings laid in ruin, smoke stacks stretched to the sky and beyond, undoubtedly there were fallen fighter jets littering the ground below. But, through it all, many of her people survived this ordeal. {Contact the sleeper cells stationed on Terra and recall them. There will be no invasion there. Today, or in the future.}

He opened his mouth to argue, but knew better to question his queen. {As you wish, Your Majesty.}

Kl'rt left Veranke alone to fulfill her command. For a brief moment, while left alone, she allowed her thoughts to drift back to a short time ago. A small smile touched her lips. _Perhaps when we meet again, I will accept your offer, Johnny Storm._


	20. The Deathbird's Coup

_**The Deathbird's Coup**_

 **Chandilar, The Shi'ar Throne-world**

Much like the Skrull and Kree empires, the Shi'ar empire stretched across dozens of galaxies, encompassing countless worlds with a wide variety of alien races. It was staggering how the human race on Earth was completely ignorant of the existence of this mammoth kingdom. At the center of it all was the throne-world, Chandilar.

The Shi'ar were a people who descended from birds. Thousands of years ago, they possessed large wings and talon-like claws; nowadays, only evolutionary throwbacks still had them. They all had facial markings around their eyes, and the majority of them had black fan-shaped hair, almost shaped like an arch. Other than that, they were mostly indistinguishable from humans. Because of this, many of the cities on Chandilar were suspended several miles in the air by advanced anti-gravity technology. The ground below was mostly uninhabited except for a few prisons that housed the most undesirable of prisoners. The ones that were too dangerous to be kept in any of the cities, yet also too dangerous to risk losing if kept off-planet. There were also a wide variety of powerful creatures that roamed around on the surface; more than a good enough reason for the Shi'ar to steer clear.

The skies above the capital city were abuzz with activity. Hover-ships zipped through the air, carrying their cargo – be it people, supplies, or equipment – into the city limits for transfer, then exiting just as quickly as they arrived. Speckled about between the hover-ships were Shi'ar, carried across the air currents by anti-gravity technology installed in their clothing. There were a few, however, that still had wings.

Scott and the others landed in the town square. Their sudden arrival startled everyone who happened to be nearby. However, as soon as they saw the X on their uniform, they chirped loudly and pointed – the Shi'ar language was very similar to how birds of Earth communicated. Scott smiled and waved, and then looked around to get his bearings. "Okay, the palace should be up this way. Follow me."

They proceeded unhindered down the road he started on. There was nothing in the way of anything similar to cars or vehicles on Chandilar. Most everyone flew, either with wings or anti-gravity technology. In fact, the heroes were the only people actually walking, so they looked even stranger than they did before.

Despite all of this, no one tried to stop them as they neared the palace.

"These Shi'ar," T'Challa started as he glanced around to take in as much of his surroundings as he could, "are allies of yours?"

"In a way, yes," Ororo answered. "We are close friends with the empress, Lilandra."

"More like the Professor is, if ya catch my meaning," Logan cut in with a smirk.

Luke chuckled to himself. "So the professor is popular with the ladies? Heheh"

"If you only knew, bub."

Professor Xavier's dirty laundry aside, it was comforting to know that the X-Men had such a personal relationship with Lilandra. Brand appeared to be in the right; this mission shouldn't and wouldn't take more than however long they took catching up with the Empress.

In the distance, the disconcerting roar of shouts and chants became more audible the closer they got to the palace. The team looked curiously at one another, but assumed – more like hoped – it was some kind of celebration and forged ahead. The closer they got, however, the more evident it became that things were about to go very wrong.

The palace came into view – a massive sterling silver building with several oval shaped towers connected together by long, enclosed walkways. Surrounding the palace were obvious defensive measures – including heavily armed sentries and laser turrets that were all currently pointed at the street below. The reason why became quickly evident.

A large crowd of people had congregated in front of the palace, all carrying holographic signs carrying the likeness of a Shi'ar woman. From the tone with which the chants were said, the crowd was angry. Very angry.

"Lilandra," Ororo gasped. "Something must have happened!"

Scott ushered the team into a nearby alleyway so that they could assess the situation in relative peace. "Okay, so that crowd is protesting something. Maybe Lilandra made a mistake?" Luke suggested.

"I doubt it," she responded. "Lilandra is a fair and just ruler, who never makes a decree without first considering the will of her people. Something else must have happ—" She was interrupted by the sound of several energy rifles being charged behind them. They whirled around to find themselves confronted by a dozen angry Imperial soldiers – elite members of the Shi'ar army. They were all dressed in jet black armor and helmets that covered their faces. On their right shoulders was the Shi'ar Imperial insignia, red and somewhat similar in shape to a falcon of Earth.

The one at the fore chirped something angrily, then growled and tapped a spot on the side of her throat. "Terran jackals!" she snarled. "Have you come in defense of that disgraced traitor, Lilandra?!"

The X-Men shared the same look of utter bemusement and disbelief. "You're lyin' out your ass, lady," Logan growled. "We ain't believin' nothin' against Lilandra until you cough up some evidence."

"Hmph. Not that it is any of your concern, but she was exposed last week as a traitor, revealed to have been feeding sensitive information to the Kree for years. We disposed of her post haste." The soldiers quickly advanced on the team. "Capture all those loyal to the traitor!"

Luke jumped in front of the group just as the soldiers opened fire. He took the onslaught of laser fire without flinching. Bobby, from behind him unyielding form, unleashed a powerful burst of ice cold air that wrapped around Luke and froze the soldiers solid.

"Damn it," Scott cursed. "This isn't good."

"That's an understatement," Bobby remarked. "Maybe we can convince whoever replaced her to give us a shard? I mean, it's worth a shot, right?"

"Mr. Drake is correct, Cyclops," T'Challa stated, stepping forward and around Luke to examine the frozen soldiers more carefully. With a single solid tug, he removed her rifle from her grasp. "Shi'ar business is their own to handle. I will not claim to know anything at all of the political climate on this world. Is there any reason they would have to lie about the former empress' involvement with the Kree?"

"The only one that we know of who would stand to benefit from Lilandra's disgrace is her elder sister, Cal'syee," Ororo answered. "But, she is exiled. No one in their right mind would believe a word of what she would have to say."

"The words of a exiled rebel can carry much more weight than you realize, Ororo," he responded, his words carrying the full weight of experience behind them. "Especially when they line up with the hidden thoughts of the disgruntled minority. Perhaps there is more to this situation than it seems."

"We really don't have time to figure that out," Scott said with a deep sigh. "Okay, we need to find some way into the palace. Hopefully, Deathbird isn't the new empress, and whoever is will listen to us and throw us a M'Kraan shaped bone."

"But, how?" Bobby asked. "I don't think they'll let a bunch of aliens just waltz into the palace. Especially aliens loyal to the previous empress."

A valid question. The heroes spent a few moments putting their heads together to rattle out a solution. One glance behind them gave them the key. "There," Scott answered, pointing to the frozen soldiers.

After thawing them out and knocking them unconscious, all but Logan and T'Challa changed into their military uniforms. The techno-organic fabric molded around their bodies, forming an armor that fit snugly.

T'Challa pulled out a small black ball, called a Kimoya bead, and pressed the inscription on its surface. It flashed twice, then linked directly to the comm-like that was located in the uniforms' helmets. Another press translated the incoherent chirping into English.

 _=...andra is not to receive any visitors today, by Empress Cal'syee's decree. Make sure the execution chamber is prepped for tomorrow.=_

 _=Yes, sir! Over and out.=_

"Goddamnit," Scott cursed. All of their worst fears had been confirmed in an instant. "Alright, here's the plan. Logan, you and T'Challa infiltrate the prison and break Lilandra out. The rest of us will infiltrate the palace and take out Deathbird."

"As good a plan as any," Luke shrugged. "Let's get started."

Logan and T'Challa were both masters of stealth, so confidence that they would be able to get Lilandra out without drawing too much unwanted attention was high. That was thus considered the easy part. The hard part was getting her out and somehow finding a safe place to keep her stashed away until they could handle Deathbird. On a completely alien world that they weren't too familiar with, that was a tall order.

They managed to navigate their way to the large, rectangular prison and were stopped by the two guards stationed at the front entrance. {We caught these two snooping around,} Scott told the two guards. His suit automatically translated his words into Shi'ar, just like the actual Shi'ar soldiers did before. {We believe they are dissenters loyal to Lilandra.}

{Alright. We'll take it from here.} He nodded and grabbed hold of Logan and T'Challa and all but dragged them inside.

 _=Good luck, guys,=_ Scott then said through the small comm link T'Challa gave him before they left the alley. _=We'll wait for you nearby.=_

Logan and T'Challa were taken to a checkout point, where their fingerprints were recorded and any weapons were taken and stored away in a large metal cabinet. Luckily for the latter, they disregarded his Kimoyo beads. After being registered, they were led through the prison and placed inside two cells across from one another.

"Now what?" Logan grunted.

"Now, we wait," T'Challa answered. "Surely, they will have to make their way back here to make sure the prisoners are not up to no good. When that happens, I will proceed."

"Ain't no tellin' when that'll happen."

Logan's words proved true. After half an hour by their estimation, no guard had even hinted that they were coming to check on the prisoners. Whatever T'Challa had planned was going to take time. Time they didn't have to waste. Lilandra was due to be executed for the next day, plus there was no telling how much havoc Doom had wreaked so far back on Earth. They needed to resolve this issue was fast as possible.

Logan knew this and growled impatiently. "This is taking too long!"

"Indeed, but what else can we do?"

"Well, you can start by not getting locked up behind bars," spoke a man from a nearby cell. "Kinda hard to stage a breakout from here."

Logan sniffed twice and grunted. "Corsair. I knew I smelled a Summers."

Christopher Summers, otherwise known as Corsair, was a longtime ally of the X-Men. He also happened to be Scott's father. "Good, then we can skip the introductions. I hope you and your friend have one hell of a plan, because we have an uphill battle for the ages ahead of us."

"We have something resembling a plan, yes," T'Challa answered. "But first, who are you, for my benefit?"

"Folks around here call me Corsair, but this lovable wombat knows me as Chris Summers, Cyclops' dad. And you?"

"A pleasure, Corsair. And I am King T'Challa of Wakanda."

"Well, then. You can't see, but I'm bowing all dramatic like."

"Enough pleasantries, Summers. The hell is goin' on around here?"

"You hadn't heard yet? There's been a coup. Deathbird and her people cooked up some false evidence and used that to boot her sister off the throne. And now, they're going to execute her to cover it up for good."

So, it was a coup. They knew that there was more to the story than what the soldiers told them. "How many people are aware of this treachery?"

"Not many. The propaganda machine is a powerful tool. Cal'syee's got the whole planet whipped up into a frenzy. Everyone's too busy arguing with each other to do much digging. Once they do, it'll be too late."

"Not on our watch." Logan stood and popped his claws. "Sorry, Panther, but we ain't got any more time to waste."

"Indeed, Logan. My thoughts exactly." Ejecting his own claws, they cut through the walls of the prison cells to bypass the energy door that kept them trapped inside. They walked out into the hall cautiously. "Which way?"

Logan sniffed the air three times, then exhaled slowly. "That way. She's down a few levels." They started in the direction indicated, only to stop after only five steps.

"Help a brother out here?" Corsair offered. "Trust me, it'll be worth your while."

"Yeah, yeah." Logan sliced through the electronic lock and opened his door. "Alright, let's get a move on, bub."

The three men progressed through the winding halls quickly, but cautiously. They didn't know the prison as well as the Shi'ar guards did, and had no time to fight through their ranks. If there was any way to cause a diversion of any kind, no matter how minuscule, they took advantage of it. A fire alarm, a mysterious noise on the other side of the hall, a guard not reporting in when he was supposed to; everything was used to their advantage.

Eventually, they came across the stairwell that would lead them to the lower levels. There was little doubt that the stairwell was monitored by cameras and other security measures. "I have an idea," Corsair said. "We stage a prison break. Letting some of the prisoners run wild will draw any available guards away from their posts, so even if we get caught on cameras, they won't be in a position to do anything."

That was as good an idea as any, so they nodded and followed him to the universal cell controls at the end of each prison block. He flipped the switch to open the cells, then shoved T'Challa and Logan into a nearby crevice to avoid the ensuing stampede.

All was quiet for the first several seconds. Then, once the first brave soul peaked his head out of his cell to see if the coast was clear, all hell broke loose. Hundreds of frenzied prisoners poured out of their confinements and ran in every direction possible, hoping and praying that that direction led them to freedom.

Shi'ar guards, armed with rifles and long, razor sharp halberds, sprinted in from their stations to engage and attempt to subdue the rowdy prisoners. In the utter chaos, T'Challa, Logan, and Corsair were able to sneak into the stairwell unnoticed. "Right up here," Logan said.

Their road ended at a large steel door. The guards stationed had been led away by the prison break, so their only obstacle was a genetically coded keypad. Adamantium claws cut through the door like a hot knife through butter.

The room inside wasn't much; there was only one person inside the otherwise empty room – Lilandra. She was young by Shi'ar standards, and beautiful. She was clad in a black sleeveless body suit and long black boots. Her hair was ruffled and slightly shaggy, showing that she had been incarcerated for some time, at least since the coup took place.

When the remnants of the door slammed to the floor with a loud clang, her head shot up, eyes wide with shock. They then narrowed, as if desperate to confirm that what they were seeing was actually reality. "Wolverine? Is that you?" she spoke, voice hoarse from disuse and mild dehydration.

"Yeah, it's me, darlin'." His claws slashed against the shackles that kept her attached to the wall. Nothing but claw marks against the wall and sparks when his claws scraped against the bonds. "The hell?!"

"It's no use, Logan," she stated melancholy. "These bonds are made of adamantium, stolen from Earth. Not even your claws can break them. Please, leave now while you still can. I'm due to be executed tomorrow, so please don't waste any time on me."

"Ya know I can't leave you here. Chuck would never forgive me."

"Charles..." A tear rolled down her cheek at the very thought of her earthbound lover.

"Allow me." T'Challa stepped forward and slashed at the bonds with his anti-metal claws. They sliced through the adamantium with ease, just like they did when he used them against Ultron years ago.

Free at last, Lilandra fell forward and into Logan's arms. She had been chained in a way that forces her to stand for days straight, so all the strength in her legs had long since evaporated. "Why must you constantly prove humanity's heroism?"

Logan chuckled and hoisted her over his shoulder. "It's what we do, darlin'. Let's haul ass, fellas."

The riot above was still going strong, so the guards were thoroughly preoccupied. The three, with Lilandra in tow, carefully navigated the insanity, taking care to only get physical if someone staggered into their way or a guard realized what was happening and tried to stop them.

Along the way, T'Challa contacted Scott and told him to procure a hover-ship for them to escape in. Once everything died down, the full weight of Deathbird's fury was going to rain like a torrential downpour when she found out her sister escaped her clutches.

They managed to reach the front entrance where they entered without too much trouble. To their fortune, Scott and the others were waiting for them, a hover-ship warmed and ready to depart the moment they boarded. "Got queeny. Let's get the hell outta here."

* * *

 **An hour later**

{WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE ESCAPED?!} Cal'syee, the oldest of the three Neramani children, was a good deal older than Lilandra, though it didn't particularly show. Unlike her sister, her arms her covered in steely feathers that grew in length the further down her forearms they went, until they formed fully functional wings. Her fingers tapered off into razor sharp talons. Her attire was pink biotech armor with a matching crown on her head.

Her face with scrunched into a furious scowl as she glared mercilessly at the Imperial soldier standing before her.

The one who delivered the terribly report of Lilandra's escape swallowed nervously, head bowed out of both fear and respect – but mostly fear. {The-there was a riot in the prison,} he explained. {By the time we realized what happened and why, she was gone. We have foot—} His words were cut off when a razor sharp feather pierced his throat.

Cal'syee picked up the video monitor he was about to give to her and watched Logan, T'Challa, and Corsair running through the chaotic, crazed riot with Lilandra slung over the former's shoulder. "Wolverine," she hissed in English. She flung the monitor at the wall, where it smashed into pieces. She then turned to a red-skinned woman with long yellow hair. "I want Wolverine and the other X-Men found, and their heads brought to me. Do you understand, Hussar?"

Hussar, a member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard – the most elite special force squad in the entire Shi'ar empire – nodded with understanding. "As you wish, Your Majesty." She walked out, leaving the Empress of Shi'ar alone with her thoughts.

 _You will not escape me, sister. You will join the rest of our family in the grave, then no one will stand in my way!_


	21. Unshackled From The Hands Of Fate

_**Unshackled From The Hands Of Fate**_

 **Asgard**

Asgard, the shining city, was in ruin. After Doom and the Masters of Evil laid waste to everything in sight, there was little left standing. Homes were crumbled in on themselves, towers were smashed into pieces, and statues were nothing more than smoldering pieces of rubble gathered around their bases like crumbs. The city itself was mostly devoid of life. Many of the more famous Asgardians – Sif, the Warriors Three, Sigyn, Frigga, Heimdall – were whisked away when Stephen and Wanda teleported the heroes to the Damocles to regroup and heal. The rest – soldiers and warriors tasked with protecting the nameless, innocent citizens – remained behind.

All was quiet, a much welcome change after seeming hours of utter chaos and madness. An elderly woman shuffled out of her home, miraculously still standing, even as the three homes surrounding it lay in ruin. Her grayish-blue eyes were still as sharp as the days of her youth as they scanned the sky above her, then the ruination that surrounded her. "By the gods," she uttered to herself, "Odin has forsaken us. Thor failed us. So many lay dead at my feet. But, what is an old woman to do?"

With a resigned sigh, she picked up a broom that leaned just inside her front door and started to sweep the debris from off her front steps. When the world turned on its head, the mundane tasks in life that often provided the most stable pillars of sanity.

As she swept, she noticed that the air turned chilly. A sharp wind swept through the city, carrying with it the cold chill of something like winter. The old woman shivered and paused in her sweeping to wrap her cloak more tightly around her body. "Winter will be fierce this year," she told her grandson, who had shyly poked his head out the door to see what was going on.

Two guards walked morosely through the woman's neighborhood, taking an accurate tally of the dead and the survivors for the census that was to be delivered to Odin once this madness was dealt with. One of them happened to look up toward the horizon and noticed that an unsettling black cloud was creeping in from far off. His eyes narrowed slightly. "A storm looms in the distance," he stated.

His companion sighed when her count was lost, then turned her attention to where he was looking. "That does not look like any storm cloud I have ever witnessed."

It was true; it was far too low and more far to quickly to be a storm cloud. It was almost like it was a black mist or fog of some kind.

"Well, whatever it is, 'tis disconcerting," the first guard stated uneasily. "Let us finish and away from this place with haste."

She nodded and continued her count from where she left off after remembering.

Not even a full minute passed when the sharp wind turned into a howling maelstrom. The sudden windstorm nearly knocked everyone off their feet. With it, the putrid, rancid smell of death carried through like a poisonous leech floating in on a river current. It gagged all who breathed in its terrible smell, forcing them to cover their mouths and noses or risk passing out.

It was strange. The corpses collected on the ground were still relatively fresh; far too fresh to give off a smell that rancid. Unless...

The guards peered at the mist again, straining their eyes to see into the distance as clearly as they could. "That is no mist!" the female guard exclaimed. "'Tis—"

She couldn't finish before the mist accelerated and overtook her and her companion. Like a wave of pitch black emptiness, the mist filled every crack and crevice, overtook everyone who happened to be outside, and crawled across every possible surface.

"No! It cannot be!" Her desperate pleas came in response to the figure standing just a few yards away from them.

Hela, the Goddess of Death and Queen of Niffleheim.

The daughter of Loki stood silently on the edge of the small village, a playful smile on her lips. Behind her was a legion of undead warriors, eyes filled with an eerie green power supplied by their mistress. "Greetings," she eventually said. "I trust you know what today is."

The eyes of all those who heard her grew to saucers. "The Gjallerhorn," the male guard whispered, referring to the ominous noise that sounded when Doom unsheathed the Oversword. "Oh, no! Alert the others!"

"Oh yes," Hela hissed jovially. With a flick of her wrists, two serrated swords appeared in her hands. "Now then, who wishes to die first?"

"I say to thee nay!" the guards roared. Swords drawn, they charged at the death goddess and engaged her with a frenzied fervor.

Hela's arms blurred as she moved to parry their strikes and counterattack with the opportunities presented themselves. Her blades sliced through their armor like nothing, reaching the vulnerable flesh that was protected within. "Odin has trained you lot well," she commented, her playful smile never wavering once. "However, against one such as I," she killed them both with two lightning fast thrusts of her blades, "'tis not enough."

Their bodies fell as if in slow-motion, though they never hit the ground. Hela's death aura penetrated their lifeless bodies, filling the emptiness vacated by their deceased spirits with her evil, twisted energy, reanimating them and turning them over to her dark whims. Their eyes filled with the same green luminescence that filled those of their new compatriots.

Hela breathed in deeply, savoring the sweet sensation of taking a life and adding it to her army for just a moment. Her exhale was slow and deliberate, as was her gaze, which fell upon the old woman and her grandson. "You there, old maiden. Come forth."

The old woman was hesitant, but for her own sake and that of her lone grandchild, she did as commanded.

"Tell, where is the Odinsson?" Hela inquired, clearly referring to Thor.

"I...I do not know."

Her head tilted to the side, her smile still not wavering in the slightest. In a flash, her sword removed the old woman's head from her shoulders.

"Noooo!" the young boy screamed from the doorway.

Hela's sharp green eyes cut a glance at the boy. The next instant, a black blade erupted from the ground and impaled the boy, jutting out of his mouth.

She breathed in deeply again and exhaled slowly. "Oh, I've missed this. Go, my pets. Kill any and all who remain. Leave none standing."

The undead army howled in unison and charged forward, slaughtering anything that moved within the village. Once all the citizens present were dead, the army moved on the next, and the next, and the next. Like the bubonic plague of ancient times, the army moved from village to village like a dark mist, overtaking any and all who encountered it. The siege was swift and violent. There were no survivors, just as Hela commanded. Men, women, and children, young and old, soldier and civilian; everyone fell victim to Hela's undead legion. Once they reached the city of Asgard proper, it was more of the same.

Hela sauntered forward at a leisurely pace, taking the time to enjoy her liberation from Niffleheim, forced on her by Odin as punishment for attacking Asgard one too many times. Only during Ragnarok was she allowed – more like able – to escape her frozen prison and bask in freedom.

As she walked, her death aura swept over the fallen bodies, reanimating them and adding them to her ranks. Before long, the entire city was under her control. With ease, she conquered Asgard – albeit an Asgard without its greatest defenders, not the least of which being Odin and Thor. Even still, she highly doubted even they could stop her. It was a little known fact that the forces of evil received a substantial boost in power during Ragnarok. This was necessary for them to overcome the forces of good, which – for the most part – were more powerful under normal circumstances. Hela by herself was more than a match for Odin – she could at least make him acknowledge that he was in a fight.

And now, she learned that a mortal had snatched the Odinforce away through sorcery. The time to conquer Midgard was clearly right then. She highly doubted he would be much trouble, being as inexperienced with wielding that much cosmic power as he was.

Of course, she would be remiss to not make it a family affair. Her father, she knew, was somewhere else in the cosmos, so her brothers would have to suffice for now.

Hela stepped inside the dead silent palace that had been bustling with life just hours ago. At that moment, it was filled the capacity with undead creatures, shuffling aimlessly as they awaited her next command. She gave them none and trekked purposefully toward Odin's court. Throwing the doors open, she stepped down the stairs and walked up to Odin's golden throne.

Her lips turned up, the first negative emotion shown since she arrived. Dark green energy surrounded her hand briefly as she lifted it up and aimed for the throne. A single blast erupted forth and struck the throne, reducing it to molten slag and revealing a hidden passageway underneath. "To think this petty tyrant would be so arrogant so as to keep you hidden away right under him," she said to herself.

She slowly entered the passageway and walked down the stairs until she reached a hidden area under the palace. It was dark, except for the light that shone down from the court above. Still, she knew that what she was seeking was there. Her hand lifted again, but this time, an emerald flame ignited in her palm. "It is time. Awaken!" She slammed her hand down on the ground, spreading the flames throughout the hidden room and illuminating it in an eerie viridescent light. As quickly as the flame spread, it died, leaving her in darkness once more. But, not in silence. A loud, but low growl echoed from within the darkness.

Slowly, a massive wolf – with fur as black, eyes as red as blood, and teeth as large and sharp as newly forged short-swords – walked forward into the light, slowly shedding the thin bonds that had held it in captivity for so many centuries. He looked at Hela with intelligent eyes for a long moment, then nodded once he recognized her. "May the Allfather howl in despair, for I have awoken," he stated, he words garbled because of his massive teeth.

Hela smiled and rubbed his maw affectionately. "'Tis so good to see you again, dear brother."

"And you as well, sister." The wolf, Fenris, rushed past her and bound up the stairs and into Odin's court. If he was expecting to find the palace filled with Asgardians primed and ready for him to devour, he only showed a little disappointment. "What has happened? Why have I been awakened to a field of the undead?"

"'Tis Ragnarok, dear brother. A mortal in league with our father has unsheathed the Oversword, triggering the end days prematurely." A sinister smile crawled across her black lips. "We are not bound by the shackles of prophecy and fate. The nine realms are ours for the taking! What say you?"

The wolf god appeared to be thinking it over. Over time, his head began to nod in agreement, much to his sister's delight and satisfaction. "I am awake, and I hunger for the flesh of what gods remain. Let us go and grind their bones into dust!"

Hela's smile brightened a touch. "Yes, let us go. To Midgard, for that is where Thor and his allies have fled to."

The forces of darkness, overwhelming in number and in power, had begun to assemble in the early stages of this unprecedented Ragnarok. No longer guided by the hands of fate and prophecy, victory was ripe for the taking. It was anyone's game, as they said, and one side had begun taking its first meaningful strides toward victory.

Whether Thor and the remaining Asgardians, as well as the heroes of Earth, would be able to prepare in time would remain to be seen. Odds were, they wouldn't, as preoccupied with Doom as they were.

As Hela, Fenris, and the army of the undead gods departed for Earth, Asgard was left empty and broken, a hollowed out husk of the once shining gem of the World Tree.


	22. The End Times Have Arrived

**_A/N:_** _I'm extremely sorry for the long wait between chapters. I just suddenly felt burnt out from everything i had been trying to do at once, so I had to step away for a while. I'm going to pick back up now and hope to finish things up without another break._

* * *

 _ **The End Times Have Arrived**_

 **The Damocles**

With twelve members gone to other worlds, the remainder of Coulson's task force prepared to weigh in on their own mission. "SHIELD intelligence indicates that Odin is being kept captive in Castle Doom. While the two teams are gathering the necessary materials to fight Doom, I want a small team to infiltrate his castle and retrieve the Allfather. Thor, pick three other people to go with you."

That seemed even more dangerous than facing someone the caliber of Galactus, even though he was much more powerful.

"Very well, Coulson."

After several moments of intense inner deliberation, he chose Monica, Janet, and Ben Grimm to go with him.

"Will you be good to go without your hammer?" Janet asked him.

"Aye. Mjølnir was merely a conduit through which I focused my power. Even without it, I am not hindered in the least." _At least when it comes to my inherent god powers. All the esoteric abilities Mjølnir bestowed to me are lost._

Coulson gave them a teleporter created by T'Challa's younger sister, Shuri. "I'll let you know when it's time to go. I want to coordinate with a few more teams that plan on attacking Doom's castle." With that, he walked out.

"I don't have a good feeling about this," Monica mumbled. "Doom beat our asses without even breaking a sweat, and now Coulson wants us to sneak into his house!"

While Thor wished to reprimand her for her cowardice, he understood fully from where it stemmed. He himself was more than apprehensive about facing Doom again so soon after being humiliated and nearly killed in Niffleheim. Even the mighty Godblast was treated as nothing more than a brief hindrance. To face Doom again with the team he had assembled with him – himself and Monica would do the most damage, as Grimm was barely a warm-up exercise for the Hulk and Janet by far more suited for infiltration than outright combat – was to tempt fate one time too many.

In the end, it was not him who said anything in protest. "What choice do we have?" Peter inquired. "We need Thor's dad back so he can take the Odinforce back. And we need to do it before he gets killed."

Thor nodded in full agreement. "Indeed. Doom's inexperience with the Odinforce will doubtlessly lead to severe repercussions. Not just on this world, but many worlds." The nature of the Odinforce was cosmic blended with mystical. It was fully capable of changing the fabric of reality in any way Odin saw fit. That kind of power at Doom's fingertips meant that one false step or one taken out of brash arrogance would mean reality being torn apart at the seams.

If anyone else had any worries about the upcoming mission, Thor's warning coerced them into keeping them to themselves.

Minutes passed without another word being said. Each of the four that were assigned to rescue Odin from Castle Doom was lost in his or her own thoughts, cycling through their own mental preparations and whatever else they needed to do to psyche themselves up for this upcoming task. Coulson stepped inside without a word and cleared his throat. "I just spoke with Professor Xavier. He told me that he'll be leading an assault on Castle Doom with whatever X-Men are left. We'll also have the support of the US, British, French, and Canadian Air Forces, so there's that."

"About as much good as they'll do," Janet muttered.

It seemed Coulson heard her all the same, given his soft hum of agreement. "Regardless, hopefully, they can distract Doom long enough for you four to get in and get out with Odin. I'm not expecting us to win, but this mission cannot fail."

Thor nodded and climbed off the bed on which he had been resting. "Very well. Let us away at once."

* * *

Before returning to Castle Doom, Doom traveled to the UN headquarters in New York to make a proclamation. That decree was that he was anointing himself ruler of the planet Earth. He then went on to invite any and all countries who disagreed to try and stop him. Confidence oozed out of his every pore. With the power of the mightiest god in Asgard at his disposal, there wasn't a force on the planet that could stand up to him. He knew it, and soon, the entire world would know it as well.

Perhaps it was an act of foolish arrogance to keep Odin not only alive, but chained inside his castle, but Doom felt that the Odinforce earned him a margin for error. There was little doubt in his mind that Thor and some others would attempt to rescue his father from bondage. When they arrived, they would be in for a surprise.

He yearned for an opportunity to flex his newfound muscle, to show the entire world just how powerful he had become. Coulson's lackeys would provide him with exactly that.

* * *

Thor, Janet, Monica, and Ben arrived in the back of Castle Doom, just inside the back entrance. _=Intel places Doom at the UN headquarters in New York,=_ Coulson spoke through the comm-link. _=Remember, get in and get out. Couslon out.=_

Thor nodded and reflexively tightened his right hand, a gesture that would have been him tightening his grip on his hammer. He sighed and shook his head. "Let us move with haste."

Quickly, but quietly, they stepped through the dank, murky halls of Castle Doom. The walls and floors were constructed out of stone slabs, while the doors were large pieces of rounded wood. Portraits of Doom lined the walls, just a small example of the narcissism that plagued the Latverian monarch.

The halls were as quiet as they were empty. The only sounds were the soft taps of their feet striking the stone floors, which sliced through the quiet air like they were broadcast over a megaphone.

Even though Doom was on the other side of the planet, they moved with caution. It was only a matter of time before he returned, and that moment could have come at any point. "Where do you think your dad is?" Janet as Thor.

"I know not. This fortress is a sprawling labyrinth. He could very well be hid away in a secret compartment of one sort or another." It was easy to see that Thor blamed himself for his father's defeat, even if such a thing made no sense. In his mind, if he had not allowed Loki to escape, then this wouldn't be happening, as Doom would have had no way into Asgard. Instead, his blind eye gave Loki an avenue to slip free from his bondage and to ally himself with Doom. And now, this was the result of their deadly alliance.

Suddenly, a voice boomed from further down the hall and around the corner. "So, you have finally arrived to best me, eh?" Doom asked.

Their collective hearts skipped several beats as they froze in place. Not only had he arrived sooner than they expected, but he already knew they were there. _Of course,_ Thor thought bitterly. _Even as a lowly mortal, nothing happens within this place without his knowledge._

"This has gone on long enough, Doom," a voice that belonged to Professor Charles Xavier responded. "It's time to put this madness to an end before it gets too far out of hand."

"Ha! What can you and your merry band of mutated miscreants do against one such as Doom? You can barely contain the whims of the mutant 'messiah', yet you wish to best a god. Fools!" An energy blast was fired, and struck, if the cacophony of pained screams was any indication.

"HULK SMASH!" The ground shook as Hulk and Doom collided, two titanic forces slamming into each other with reckless abandon.

"Leave them to their work," Thor commanded. "We have our own will to carry out." It pained him to leave his brothers-in-arms to suffer an unknown fate once their inevitable defeat was realized, but what choice did they have? Turning aside from their task would only mean Doom would have to spend a few seconds more to trivially defeat the four of them along with whoever was with Xavier and Bruce.

Dust was shaken loose and fell on their heads with each aftershock of Doom's and Hulk's battle. Hulk had long grown quiet, meaning that Doom was winning easily. Not surprising, but they had hoped Bruce would have been able to delay him for the few moments it would take to find Odin and leave. No such luck, and Thor and his team quickly found themselves racing against the clock.

"I feel he is close," Thor stated to the others. Though, it wasn't immediately evident whether he was talking about Odin or Doom. As if seeking to give an answer himself, Hulk crashed through the walls and slammed into Ben.

"Git offa me, ya big lummox," Ben grumbled as he shoved Hulk off him. "Alright, blondie. Looks like sneakin' around time is over."

"How right you are, Mr. Grimm," Doom said as he stepped through the hole Hulk's abrupt entrance made. His hands were bleeding the teal energy of the Odinforce. "How brave you four must feel, to infiltrate my home under my nose. But, did you really think I wouldn't know you were here? Even before the Odinforce, there was not a single ant that entered Castle Doom without my knowing of it! And now, to attempt such a foolhardy endeavor is like signing your own death certificate."

"Tch. Even wit' da power of a god, ya still love hearin' yourself talk, doncha, Vic?" Ben cracked his knuckles and approached his oldest enemy. "God power or no, I'm still gonna kick your tin can all over Latveria!" He tossed a straight punch, and caught Doom flush in the chest. To his absolute shock, Doom didn't budge a centimeter. "Wha?!"

Doom chuckled and calmly shoved Ben back, sending him flying through several walls until he came tumbling to a stop in what appeared to be a library. "Ever the lugheaded fool, eh, Grimm?"

Thor, Janet, and Monica stood on guard, huddled together in a united front against the demi-god dictator. Their combined offense, they knew, was nothing but a brief inconvenience against Doom. Still, they had to do something. Monica dashed forward, exploding into a brilliant ray of white light and aiming to lance through Doom.

She merely bounced off his chestplate, his form now far too durable. "Hmph. Such a paltry effort." A simple blast sent Thor and Janet flying back and slamming into the wall behind them. Another nearly cut through Monica, had she not dodged in time. Even as weaker as she was, she was still far faster than him.

 _There has to be something I can do!_ she thought to herself.

"I assure you, there is not," he replied.

Her eyes widened. "What the hell?!"

"Oh? Didn't you know that telepathy is one of the Odinforce's vast abilities?" A psychic bolt erupted unseen through the air and hit Monica unhindered. Her pained screams were like music to Doom's ears, just as her body dropping out of the air like a dying fly was a beautiful sight. "Pathetic."

A lightning bolt washed over Doom, not injuring him, but turning his attention away from the prone Spectrum. "Doom," Thor roared. "The Odinforce is not yours to command. You trifle with forces your mortal body cannot hope to contain."

Doom scoffed, then outright laughed at the statement. "Cannot hope to contain? Fool! Do you not realize with whom you are speaking? I am Victor von Doom, the only man in the universe to have wielded both the Odinforce and the Power Cosmic! There is no power the cosmos can offer that I cannot bend to my whims, use as I see fit! To argue otherwise proves you are as dull and dimwitted as your brother claimed." He caught Thor's fist and wretched it back violently.

Thor grunted in pain and grabbed Doom by his tunic. "I know well of your theft of the Silver Surfer's power, tyrant. I also know that the Power Cosmic he wields is a pale comparison to the source from which it was born. That pale comparison is paltry compared to the Odinforce." They struggled against each other, Thor barely able to keep Doom from pushing him back. It took all his effort and strength to maintain the even balance between the two of them.

"Pah! A trivial concern from an even more trivial source." With ease, Doom shoved Thor back, then blasted him through several walls. "I have complete control over Odin's power. There is nothing, no one who can best me. And if there happens to be one, I can simply steal their power as well. That is the difference between you and I, Odinsson. You beg and plead for mercy through thinly veiled warnings. I, on the other, rise to the occasion and use my vast, unparalleled intellect to device a solution through sheer will. That is why I am ruler of the world, and you are history."

A blue beam erupted from his hand and collided with Thor's prone from. The demi-god screamed in agony, which only proved to spur Doom on. He ignored the incessant onslaught of wasp stings Janet laid into him from every side. She was even more insignificant than Thor was. "What?!" To his shock, Thor was struggling to his feet, even as a fully powered blast pushed against him. "Impossible!"

"I... have already... told you," Thor ground out through gritted teeth. "The... Odinforce... is not... yours to command!" Every step felt like a mile. Doom's blast pushed against him like a raging river's current pushed against the minuscule fish that resided within it. Yet still, Thor persisted. One step at a time, he fought against the impossibly strong current, edging his way ever closer to the quarry. He was inches away from being able to reach out and touch Doom's facemask when a simple exertion of the power raging against him sent him careening back.

"You fool. The depths of your idiocy and arrogance know no bounds."

"Pssh. You're one to talk."

Doom hummed curiously and turned to behold Janet standing near him, full-sized and hands aglow with bio-electricity. "One as bereft of strength as you should remain silent, lest you fall victim the aftereffects of the battle between those who actually matter."

"You know, Vic, whenever you talk, all I hear is 'I am a big, stupid idiot. Please hit me'."

At that, Doom raised an unseen eyebrow. "Is it the mark of insanity to mock the source of your impending death, Ms. Van Dyne?"

"Yep. And that's doctor to you, asshole."

He chuckled. "It matters not. Madam or Doctor, you will be dead all the—" Suddenly, a hand grabbed his, followed by a feminine groan. "What?!"

It was Monica, who had absorbed a portion of his power and was no floating in the air, entire body radiating with the divine power of the Odinforce. Suddenly, it all made sense. Janet wasn't going to fight him, but was just distracting him. She reached out and blasted him through wall, then again to send him flying away.

A deep, tired sigh escaped her as her form sagged slightly. "It's too much," she revealed lamentably. "I can't keep this up for much longer." She shifted into her light for her conserve stamina. "I can switch forms at a thought, so maybe I can switch between light and god-mode to keep from burning out." She glanced at Janet and smirked. "That's was pretty smart, distracting Doom like that."

"Huh? Oh, yeah... yeah, distracting."

She frowned, but shook it off. "At any rate, thanks. You just saved our asses."

"Indeed, milady." Thor rose to his feet, slightly wobbly, and beheld the previous form Monica held. "I have never met a mortal able to actually absorb the Odinforce without ritual and yet live. Verily, you are a marvel, Lady Monica."

She smiled at the praise. "That's what they call me."

A loud groan emanated from the hole Ben created during his abrupt and violent exit. "Urg. Anyone'a youse get da numba on dat mack truck? Hey, what happened t' Vic?"

"He decided that now would be a good time to take a quick power nap," Monica explained. "Let's haul ass before he decides to wake up."

As they continued quickly through the castle, an ice cold chill swept through the halls. It wasn't like a stiff winter breeze rolled through the window, but this wind chilled them to the bone. Even Thor shivered. Accompanying the breeze was a faint smell of something putrid and foul. That smell stopped the thunderer in his tracks. "Nay. It... cannot be."

"What?" Janet asked through chattering teeth.

"Death approaches." The chilly breeze abruptly turned into an glacial wind, nearly knocking the four heroes to the knees. The halls turned pitch black, and the putrid, rancid smell persisted and grew in strength. They nearly gagged with every breath.

"What is that?!"

"'Tis I, mortal." Hela stood before them, the blade of her black sword glinting ominously in the pale torchlight that illuminated the halls. "I am Hela Lokisdottir Goddess of the dead, and Queen of Niffleheim." She regarded Thor with her piercing green eyes; a slimy smirk slithered across her lips. "Dearest uncle. How... convenient and predictable that you are present here, to witness the All-Father's ultimate demise."

"Nay, I say to thee, Hela! Father will be returning to Asgard with me, and you will return to Hel at once!"

"And what shall you two do when you return to your beloved home? Hm? Twiddle thine thumbs and listen to your bloated words echo through the empty halls?"

"What are you talking about, witch?"

"Asgard is dead," she revealed, reveling in the horrified look on Thor's face. "All who remained after this so-called doctor of doom laid siege to everything is now a part of my undead army, here to lay siege to this... place as recompense."

None of this made sense to Thor. Hela should not have been there. How could she escape Niffleheim, the place where Odin himself bound her for all eternity? Unless, "How did you escape Niffleheim? Was this part of your bargain with your father?"

"Hmph. Daddy dearest was so desperate for a boon that he actually agreed to con his foolish ally into triggering Ragnarok. Even as I speak, Doom walks about with the Odinsword free of its scabbard. All the while, completely ignorant of what he has done." Her sinister laugh was enough to drown out the horrified shudder that escaped Thor. "Now then, which of these... remarkable mortals wishes to serve me first?"

Her sinister smile persisted even as she lunged forward and grabbed Ben by the throat, and easily lifted him up. With a single push, she tossed him clear out of the castle.

"Look out!" Monica grabbed Janet and streaked away before Hela's sword could cut her down. "Christ. Who the fuck is that?"

"Don't know," Janet answered, out of breath despite not actually do anything warranting that condition. "I do know that she creeps me the hell out. If she could never smile again, I'd greatly appreciate it."

The entire castle shook and started to break apart as Thor and Hela started to battle. Without his hammer, he was at a distinct disadvantage; not to mention the power boost Hela received during Ragnarok. She was more than his match on a normal occasion; now, she was quickly overwhelming him every time they clashed.

She detonated a ball of dark, sickly green energy against his torso, which sent him flying back with pieces of his armor trailing behind him.

He crashed into the ground and tumbled to a violent stop, though he ended up on his feet. "I will not allow your dark essence to pervert Midgard, Hela!" he yelled. He opened his mouth and let out a mighty, cascading roar. Lightning filled his eyes and arced outward, jumping across his body to the ground. "It is time to stop holding back for the sake of the others." He exploded forward, weaving gracefully around the myriad of swords Hela shot at him until he reached her. He never touched her; rather, the lightning that was bleeding off his body arced through the air and struck her in the chest.

The Death Goddess was sent careening back into the castle. Lightning danced across the sky and fell down on her, ripping through the castle and leveling the towers it passed through.

Thor wasted no time in pursuing her and quickly flew back into the castle. The moment he landed, Fenris leaped in from the shadows and tackled him to the ground. His great maw was inches away from biting down on Thor before the Thunderer managed to stop him in time.

"Get off of him, you overgrown mutt!" Janet unleashed a barrage of wasp stings that struck Fenris' head and neck, but were otherwise unable to even distract the beast, much less hurt it. "Bastard!" She grew to giant size and pick Fenris up by the scruff of his neck. "I said get off!" She dropped him, then slammed her fist into him and drove it thirty feet into the ground.

A supercharged wasp sting was unleashed the next moment. The bright yellow explosion that followed tore through the ground, upending everything like a volatile wave.

She shrunk back down to normal size and moved to help Thor to his feet. Before she could, something on the horizon attracted her attention. "What... is... that?"

An army. One that stretched from one edge of the horizon to the other, and whose depth was impossible to tell. Shrouded in the dark haze of Hela's twisted, morbid black essence, the dead of Eastern Europe had risen from their graves in service to their new mistress. She called, and they came, ready for war.

"The army of the dead has risen," Thor stated bleakly. "Ragnarok has begun."


	23. Challenging the Goddess of Death

_**Challenging the Goddess of Death**_

 **Latveria**

They were four against literal billions. Hela had managed to resurrect the dead buried under Eastern Europe for her own perverted purposes. Like a dark mist, they marched toward Castle Doom faster than their decaying legs had any business carrying them. Even if Thor, Janet, Monica, and Ben managed to escape back to the Damocles, the innocent people of Latveria were sure to be cut down by the ravenous undead legion; at which point, their fresh corpses would be added to Hela's number.

The rancid smell of decaying flesh and one thousand year old air filled the sky, polluting the breathable air like smog. Any living person who caught an unfortunate whiff immediately gagged from the horrific scent.

"What do we do?" Monica asked, a nervous, bordering frightened edge in her voice.

Thor hesitated to answer. His initial instinct was to fight, but he quickly realized that Janet would be overwhelmed in minutes, and Monica's usage of the Odinforce drained her stamina far too quickly. It would be between himself and Ben, and the two of them weren't enough to withstand against billions, with billions more being added as Hela sought to resurrect the buried dead in other regions.

A wicked cackled from behind them attracted their pensive attention. Hela had roused herself from Thor's attack and was quickly advancing on them. Her brother erupted from the crevice Janet left him in and approached them at her flank. His massive, razor-sharp fangs showed a murderous glint in the pale moonlight. "You will do nothing but die, mortal," he growled.

* * *

On the Damocles, Coulson took to watching the mission overhead through Stark Industries surveillance equipment. What he felt was beyond disbelief. "This... this can't be happening," he uttered, voice trembling from just the brief contemplation of what an army of that size would do to not just the four heroes, but the innocent civilians caught in its path.

"Sir, what do we do?" Daisy inquired nervously.

"I..." There was only one thing to do. An army of that size and magnitude could not be allowed free reign over the planet. "Every available hero, assemble at the teleporter. You're heading to Latveria on the double."

* * *

 _=Thor, it's Coulson. Hang tight, you got reinforcements incoming.=_

The words were like music to Thor's ears as he grunted and struggled to keep Hela's sword from piercing his flesh. He kept the Goddess of Death occupied while Ben battled Fenris. That left Monica and Janet to stem the advance of Hela's undead army.

The two enjoyed the advantage of maneuverability over the undead hordes, which allowed them to attack several of them for a time, then retreat to safety once their vastly superior numbers threatened to overwhelm them. This was the best way for them to keep the army off Thor's back while still conserving power. While Monica could have nuked the army from above – and likely still should, all things considered – that would have drained her almost completely, with two villainous gods still waiting in the wings. Plus, there was no telling what else Ragnarok had in store for them.

The was a brief flash of yellow light that erupted nearby. It faded, revealing every available hero Coulson assembled for his task force. They quickly fanned out and moved to engage the enemies.

"Holy shit," Tony remarked. The moment he saw the undead army of viking zombies shambling toward him far more quickly than undead legs had any right to move, he rocketed into the air to assess the situation. "Okay. Army of zombies, gigantic wolf... thing, creepy lady fighting Thor. Alright. Jo, give me a close up of the creepy lady." His HUD zoomed in on Hela and started a facial recognition scan. She, unsurprisingly, didn't match up with anyone in his database. "Damn. Okay. Oily black hair, scary green eyes, sinister smile that sends chills up my spine." He frowned. "Sounds eerily familiar."

Hela, meanwhile, took note of the new arrivals with a mote of curiosity. "Tell me, Thor," she asked the thunder god as her slender fingers tightened around his throat. "Who are these new mortals? Allies of yours, I presume?"

"The harbingers of your doom, witch," he answered, voice warbled from her vice-tight grip on his windpipe. "You would do well to surrender."

She shook her head and let out a soft chuckle. "Oh, you do know how to spin any scenario into one of impending victory, do you not. An infant could arrive with a wooden spoon and you would claim that he holds the key to my destruction." She hoisted him up and booted him through Castle Doom.

Tony saw this and cringed. He dove down and veered right to do a strafing run with fully powered repulsor beams. She didn't budge, and quickly retaliated with a tapered beam of green energy that nearly lanced through him had he not flew out of the way in time. "Analyze that energy, Jo."

" _Unknown energy source,"_ the dutiful AI responded seconds later. _"However, comparisons to recorded energy types indicate that it is magical in nature."_

"Shit." Tony's feelings on magic hadn't change one iota since the last time they were discussed. He hated them then, and he sure as hell hated them now. "Damn it, where's Doc Weird when you need him?"

" _It's Strange, Mr. Stark,"_ the sorcerer responded with a hint of annoyance.

"Well, yeah, but who am I to judge?" The laugh at his own joke didn't last very long. "Where you at, doc? We need you on this one."

"I'm afraid I have a more pressing matter to attend to. The search for a fourth master sorcerer has taken us to Thor's mother. She's currently threatened by a legion of Dark Elves. It will be some time before we are able to join you."

Tony sighed. "Great. Keep us posted."

From what little Thor told them about Ragnarok, it was supposed to be the end of the Asgardian universe, or something to that effect. The final battle was _supposed_ to take place somewhere else, not Earth. So, if this was Ragnarok, like Thor claimed, then why were they on Earth? His first thought was that it had something to do with Odin being in Doom's castle. But, it that was the case, how did Creep Lady and her zombie friends know that?

It wasn't like Doom made a big deal about keeping him captive. In fact, he was pretty sure Doom hadn't told anyone Odin was his prisoner. So, how did these guys find out?

In the end, it didn't matter. They were on Earth to kill Odin, and they needed to be stopped. With that in mind, he steeled himself and rocketed toward Hela and full speed. His intention was to activate his shield at the last moment and ram into her. She would be more hurt – hopefully – than he would be – again, he hoped – from the impact, thus giving him more time to think of what to do next. Her shrugging off a fully powered repulsor blast didn't fill him with overwhelming confidence, but it was the best he could do until someone could break free from the seemingly endless horde of undead European corpses threatening to tear the innocent Latverians to pieces.

Tony's plan went off perfectly. His transparent shield kicked off at just the right moment, protecting him from the bone-breaking impact that turned Hela into a medieval trench digger. He rammed her into the ground and dragged her hundreds of feet, away from the battle and the others. One on one with a goddess wasn't exactly the smartest thing he had done, but he was in his most powerful armor to date, so he felt that earned him a little margin for error.

"Enough!" Hela bellowed right before expending a burst of energy that pushed against Tony's shield. He relented and retreated to a safe distance to keep from losing too much power. As Hela stood, he saw that she wasn't injured in the slightest.

Hela stood slowly, as if rising from a nap, and stretched her neck out. She turned to face Tony, the sinister, spine-chilling smile from before still in place. "So, you are the infamous Man of Iron my father spoke of so... _fondly._ Allow me to introduce myself to you. I am Hela Lokisdottir: Queen of Hel, commander of the undead army of Niffleheim, and Goddess of Death." She bowed cordially.

 _Oh god, that piece of shit brother of Thor's actually reproduced._ Tony had to repress the urge to gag; not only at the fact that some poor woman was tricked into sleeping with Loki, but also because Loki's daughter wasn't bad looking. Quite the opposite, in fact. It disgusted him because a woman this evil shouldn't have looked so good. "Yeah, goddess of death. Guess that explains the zombies back there."

"Indeed. Now that Ragnarok is in full effect, there is precious little you mortals can do to stop me from conquering this and every realm. You would do well to swear fealty to me now. Mayhap I can find it within myself to spare your life if I find your talents useful."

"Well, I _do_ play a mean fiddle." With that, he rocketed toward her again. This time, the nanites covering his right armor multiplied and shifted into a massive mallet. The thruster at the end of it activated, propelling the mallet with enough speed to smash Hela in the face and knock her back further than his battering ram technique.

Not letting up, his mallet arm shifted into a tapered, serrated blade as he flew after her. His thrust missed, stabbing the blade instead into the cold, hard ground; the elongated arc reactor on the side of his arm activated to keep her at bay long enough for him to escape to safety.

"Hm. Impressive," she noted with a hint of actually sincerity. Her arm swept to the side, a blur of motion that sent dozens of razor sharp knives hurtling at Tony.

He dove downward to avoid the wave of knives, then quickly spun out of the way of the second wave of larger blades that nearly ran him through. "Seriously, where the hell are all these swords coming from?!" He anticipated a third wave would come his way, so he fired a pair of cluster missiles in retaliation. His anticipation paid off, and Hela's attack was rebuffed only a few feet in front of her.

He used that distraction to close in on her and clasped his hands together. His gauntlets shifted and fused together into one massive cannon that fired a immensely powerful blue beam of energy that slammed into Hela and sent her flying back. "Keep it up!"

Her scream of pain – or perhaps frustration – was like music to his ears. But, like every song, it didn't last forever. Hela fired her own sickly green blast to push Tony's back into him. "Foolish mortal!" she bellowed. "Your power is like nothing to me! I will—gah!" A gob of webbing splattered over her eyes, blinding her and – more importantly – disrupted her blast, allowing Tony's to overtake her again and push her back into the ground.

Peter landed next to Tony, along with Thor, Carol, and Sue. Tony cut his beam off to let Carol have a crack.

Thor placed his hands on her shoulders and started pumping electricity into her to amplify her power. With as much innate as he had stored within him, her power quadrupled in mere moments.

"ENOUGH!" Hela exploded out of the ground, emerald power pouring out of her eyes and bleeding off her hands. "I will reduce you all TO ASHES!" A beam erupted from her hand, warping the very fabric of reality itself.

The heroes scattered, just managing to dodge the attack, but not the explosion it caused when it impacted the ground and detonated. A tidal wave of earth and rock rippled out, overtaking those stuck on the ground and scattering the like chaff caught in a stiff breeze. The attack was concentrated, so the aftermath wasn't great; at the point of impact, there was a near mile deep crater left behind.

"Jesus," Carol muttered.

"How can we compete with that kind of power?" Peter wondered.

"You cannot," Thor answered frankly. "This is Ragnarok, the end of all things. The only available being capable of killing Hela is Surtur. We must wait for him to arrive and wage battle with her for the right to destroy Midgard."

"Um, yeah, not a big fan of that idea," Tony responded. "We'll think of something."

* * *

The battle raged on without further delay. Tony and his team did their best to hold Hela off and keep her separated from the other villains. Hulk and Ben put their differences aside and teamed up against Fenris. The remaining heroes, led by Steve, began the lofty, arduous, Herculean task of battling back the millions of undead slaves loyal to the death goddess.

Everyone present had their work cut out for them. The good news was that Hela was by far the most powerful person present, even more powerful than Doom. While that gave them a modicum of hope that the fight would quickly swing in their favor once she fell, that hope hinged on them actually defeating her. She was, by far, more powerful than anyone they had faced before ever, and it was only four of them against her.

It was then that Doom's thirst for Odin's power bit the heroes in the ass. This was about the time when Jean would tap into the Phoenix Force and battle Hela by herself. Likely, if the gap between the Phoenix Force and the Odinforce was as great as some cosmic beings perpetrated, she would defeat her as handily as she did Ronan and move on to Fenris, or destroy the undead army with a wave of her hand. Unfortunately, she wasn't there; in a bid of unintentional foresight, Doom handing her over to Surtur in exchange for the Twilight Sword ruined the best chance the heroes had at winning this battle.

Though, the question arose: why wouldn't Doom simply try to usurp the Phoenix Force from Jean when he had her unconscious? Her power far eclipsed Odin's; so even if Ragnarok was still triggered, no one would be able to touch him.

That was a question only Doom himself would be able to answer. Speculation could provide many suggestions – he was afraid of the Phoenix himself, he didn't think he could handle its power, or perhaps he underestimated it or overestimated the worth of Odin's godly power. Regardless, what was done was done. The past could not be changed.

Or, could not be changed without outside interference. The time gem was more than capable of such. Loki found himself in an interesting and potentially precarious situation. He possessed two infinity gems, time and space. He swore to himself that he would present these to Thanos, which would – unbeknownst to Loki – give him three gems. Yet, Loki was a creature of intelligence. With intelligence came curiosity, a thirst for knowledge that was never sated until death. With the time gem came a knowledge that very, very few beings in the universe had at their disposal.

Naturally, he peered into the unknown threads of times not yet occurred to see what fate had in store for those lined against him. Much of what he saw was predictable. One event in particular, however, caught his attention and made him reconsider his current course.

With the space gem, he was able to transport himself instantly from Titan – where Thanos currently resided – to Midgard. Nevada, to be precise, exactly where he sent his mother only a few short hours ago. He knew that Jane Foster would take good care of her, to the best of her ability. She would be safe there. Or, so he thought. He neglected to realize that Malekith, king of the Dark Elves, harbored a grudge against the Aesir queen stemming from her humiliatingly easy defeat of him during his failed invasion of Asgard.

That, however, wasn't why he traveled to Nevada, and it wasn't why he used to time gem to bring time itself to a complete halt. Everyone except himself and the person he wished to speak to was completely immobile, unaware of time's frozen status.

Dr. Strange noticed immediately that something was amiss and halted his actions. A cursory scan of his surroundings revealed Loki to be standing in the midst of the battle, hands clasped casually behind his back. Immediately, magical energies bled from the Sorcerer Supreme's hands as he prepared for another fight. "Loki, I should have known you were behind this."

Loki raised his hands to prove he meant no harm this time. "Regardless of my own actions mere hours ago, I come in genuine peace. If my words fail to placate you, then by all means, search my intentions with the Eye of Agamotto."

Strange eyed him warily, then lifted his hands to said Eye of Agamotto, the eye-shaped amulet hanging around his neck. "All-seeing Eye, reveal any untruth the Father of Lies has spoken to me." The amulet opened up, revealing a bright blue void in the 'pupil'. Light erupted from the void and washed over Loki.

Nothing else happened.

"I see." Strange lowered his hands, but still kept his guard up. "What do you want from me? As you can see, I'm very busy at the moment."

"I... wish to ask something of you. You may be unaware, but I currently possess two infinity gems, time and space. I want to give you the time gem for safe keeping."

At that, Strange raised an eyebrow. "You're just giving me an infinity gem?" he inquired, tone dripping with suspicion.

"Aye."

"At what price?"

"The price is your solemn swear that you will do all you can within your vast abilities to keep it out of Thanos' hands."

Loki could see the dread wash over Strange at the mere mention of Thanos. "What have you seen?"

The Liesmith swallowed nervously. "I... could not help but peer into the future to glimpse at what is in store for myself, for us all. I saw that Thanos does indeed assemble all six gems. I also saw that, with a mere snap of his fingers, he kills half the universe. One of the countless victims was my own mother." Without another word, he strolled over to Frigga – trapped mid-stride, a fiercely intense glare affixed on her face – and tenderly stroked her cheek. "Surely you realize that I cannot allow her to die, so, this is my solution. I know that out of all the mortals, you are the most willing to do what is necessary to prevent Thanos from succeeding and actually achieving his goals. Even if it means allowing someone else to die."

A tense silence settled between the two sorcerers, a startling juxtaposition to the chaotic still image around them. Strange thought it over carefully, considering all the pros and cons to Loki's suggestion. Without a word for or against, he held out his hand.

Nodding once, Loki gestured and the time gem materialized in his hand. An eerie orange glow illuminated the nighttime sky, even as the frozen flashes of magical power lit up the sky like a violent fireworks display.

In a flash of white light, the time gem left Loki's hand and ended up in Strange's. He silently placed it inside his amulet. "I will do all I can."

"See that you do." With that, Loki vanished through a blue portal, which closed immediately after he passed through it.


	24. Imperial Betrayal

_**Imperial Betrayal**_

 **Chandilar**

In another galaxy many light-years away, Scott and his team found themselves in the middle of a controversy that threatened to rip the Shi'ar home-world down to its foundations. Cal'syee snatched the throne right out from under her younger sister, Lilandra, and managed to turn much of the planet against her. Only a very vocal minority still pledged its support to the disgraced former empress. Had the team not shown up when they did, she would have been executed, and any chance of dethroning Deathbird would have died with her.

That, to their great fortune, didn't happen. They saved her in time and managed to escape while the prison she had been shackled in was still entrapped in utter chaos.

"It's always great to see ya, son," Corsair said the very moment he boarded the ship. He hugged Scott more tightly than he ever had, likely because he didn't think he'd ever see him again. "How's Alex?"

Scott sighed softly. "He's getting back on track. He lost his way for a second, ran with the wrong crowd, but he's getting there."

"Heh. A chip of the ol' block, then."

The hover-ship they managed to commandeer flew away from the palace, out of the capital city toward a small out of the way town several miles away. When they eventually landed, they quickly found that it wasn't nearly as bustling as the capital. There may have been a few hundred people there, though they may have been counting the same people twice. "We can lay low here. Lots of places to hide out from the authorities until we have all our ducks in a row," Corsair stated. He and Ororo helped Lilandra out of the ship and into a small silver building.

The inside was mostly empty, except for several pieces of alien technology that no one except Corsair and Lilandra knew how to make heads or tails of. Corsair stepped over to one of the pieces of equipment and started to tap on the console. "The Starjammers are in low orbit as I speak waiting for the word to attack. But, we can't do that until we make sure everyone has access to these files." The screen that materialized above the console displayed several articles, all of which were written in the Shi'ar language. "These prove that Lilandra is innocent. As soon as we get these out to the public, Deathbird's support is as good as gone."

"Sounds like you've been busy, bub," Logan noted. He and the others took a seat on one of the few pieces of furniture present.

"That's why I was in prison when you two showed up. One of the Imperial Guards caught me downloading a few more files in one of the government buildings and tossed me headfirst into that cell. I had been in there for a few days." He shook his head and pulled what looked like a thumb-drive from his jacket pocket, then inserted it into the console. "We'll have to move fast. It won't be long before the Imperial Guard turn up. If they take too long, Deathbird will call in Gladiator, and then it's all over for us."

"Who's Gladiator?" Luke wondered.

"The ultra-powerful protector of the throne," Ororo answered. "His power eclipses ours by many orders, and he is honor bound to protect the one seated on the throne. Meaning that even though he is our friend, he will not hesitate to kill us if we threaten Deathbird."

"Meaning we need to make sure our asses are covered before we end up getting tossed into the sun," Bobby added.

A being as powerful as Gladiator posed a tremendous problem to their efforts, and was likely the largest reason why Corsair wanted to make sure this was done right, as opposed to them simply rushing into the palace to pull Deathbird off the throne. Anything less than 100% legality was going to get them either killed immediately, or captured and executed.

As they waited for Scott's father to look over the files and arrange them in a way so that the most concrete evidence was first, the heroes fell silent. Most of them were concerned about what Doom was doing on Earth, or rather, what he was doing _to_ Earth. As the most powerful person on the planet, there was no one who could stop him from doing whatever he wanted. They didn't know the full extent of Odin's power, but from what little he displayed when he ran through their entire task-force like tissue, there was no limit to what Doom could do.

Scott, on the other hand, was worried about Jean, as he had been since the moment he learned she had been taken. He couldn't keep from fearing that something had happened to her. She was more powerful than any demon – divine or not – so her not managing to escape by that point must have meant—

 _No, I have to stop thinking like that. Jean's fine._ He shook his head and looked up to find his father looking at him.

"So, I take it that something happened to the Missus," he spoke after walking up to him.

Scott sighed heavily. "She was kidnapped by a villain and then traded to an extra-dimensional demon in exchange for a magical sword that the villain then used to defeat a god and steal his powers."

"Hm."

The blasé reaction showed that life as an X-Man was far removed from normal. Being offered to a demon likely wasn't even the strangest or worst thing that had happened to Jean in the last five years. "She's fine," he said, mostly to convince himself. "She'd tell me to worry about the villain, not her."

"Well, you should probably listen."

His lips quirked up into a soft smile. "Maybe I should."

Hussar and Neutron, two members of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, stepped out of their ship and immediately started to search the city for Wolverine, Corsair, and Lilandra. "Intelligence indicates that Lilandra is somewhere in this city," the latter said. He was a large, blue-skinned alien dressed in a yellow and black uniform and yellow boots. He looked very much like a mix between Colossus' appearance with Nightcrawler's clothing.

Hussar nodded and activated her anti-gravity belt to take to the air for a higher vantage point. The city was small, but there were many nooks and crannies for criminals to hide in. With a person as experienced with ducking authorities as Corsair was, there was no telling how long it would take them to find him.

It was dangerous, and it filled the two Imperial Guards with a terrible dread. Cal'syee demanded they find Lilandra and Corsair as soon as possible, or else the latter would release all the evidence he had stolen in regards to their coup. Once that was in the public consciousness, it was only a matter of time before they would revolt against Deathbird. At that point, Wolverine and the others could simply walk into the palace and dethrone her themselves without fuss.

It was imperative that they not fail with those undeniable facts in mind. One slip-up and their livelihoods – and their lives – would be over. Lilandra was a benevolent ruler, sure, but treason was as unforgivable an offense as there was in _any_ society.

Hussar licked her lips. In her hands was a heat sensor that measured the heat signatures in the buildings as she flew over them. What she saw was normal. Each building was occupied by one or two people, but no more than three usually. Most of the people that inhabited the city were outside, tending to whatever business they had to conduct that day.

Ten minutes passed with no results when she suddenly passed by a building with six signatures. "Hm. Neutron, I'm picking up six heat signatures in sector seven. Let's investigate."

 _=Right. I'm on my way.=_

The team was discussing their next course of action when Logan suddenly started sniffing the air. "Shit. We got company. I smell Imperial Guards nearby." He sniffed again to narrow it down. "Hussar and Neutron."

"Damn it. Dad, is there a back way out of here? We can't let them find Lilandra."

"Yeah, through that hallway." He saved his work and pocketed the thumb-drive before hurrying to help the empress to her feet. "I got a small ship out back. You guys will be alright by yourselves?"

"Yeah, bub. Get going."

Corsair nodded and helped Lilandra to the hallway where the back exit, and his ship, was.

Meanwhile, Scott worked on cobbling together a strategy. He knew that Hussar was the weaker of the two by far, but her whip made her more than a match for any of them. He was sure that T'Challa's suit would protect him against her whip – it was capable of interfering with a person's nervous system and short out their motor functions. Neutron was immensely strong and was capable of absorbing certain types of energy to make himself stronger, similar to Ms. Marvel. The best counter for him was Luke and Bobby. The rest of them could handle Hussar.

Scott nodded and relayed this strategy to the others. It wasn't the best, but it was the best he could come up with on such short notice. Just in time, as two people landed just outside the front door.

Neutron barreled through the door, sending metal shards flying everywhere. "In the name of Empress Cal'syee and the Shi'ar Empire, you are all under arrest for crimes against the empire and conspiring against the Empress," he charged.

Luke responded by batting Neutron out of the building with his enchanted crowbar. He and Bobby quickly followed after him, not wanting to give him a second to regroup.

Meanwhile, Hussar's whip cracked through the air and just missed hitting T'Challa in the leg. He flipped gracefully onto a console, then leaped again and tossed a pair of vibranium knives at her.

Her whip lashed through the air and knocked them away in time. She then ducked down to avoid a lunging Wolverine, then wrapped her whip around his leg and hurled him into Scott's optic blast.

"Are you a part of Deathbird's treason, Hussar?" Ororo demanding. A miniature tornado kept the alien at bay to give the others time to regroup. "Are you so fickle that you would betray your empress in favor of a banished lunatic?!"

"Hmph." Her whip flicked toward Ororo, barely missing, but breaking her concentration enough to dissipate the tornado. She quickly advanced on her, twisting and flipping about the room to stay just ahead of Scott's blasts. "You know nothing, X-Man."

"Military coups are no rare occurrence on our planet," T'Challa uttered. "The fact that your loyalty could be bought by any means speak ill of your integrity." He flipped to the side to avoid her whip, then tossed a disk that landed on her anti-gravity belt. Suddenly, she jerked upward and slammed into the ceiling. Her whip slipped out of her grip, leaving her vulnerable to the pair of knives that he hurled at her.

One knife was planted into her shoulder, and the second nicked her neck, causing blood to spray out of the wound. "Yield, or bleed to death."

Confronted with the T'Challa's cold ultimatum and the realization that she was going to die either way, Hussar gave way to her sense of justice and relented.

He and Ororo helped her down from the ceiling and quickly tended to her neck wound.

Meanwhile, Luke and Bobby battled Neutron to nearly a standstill. Much of the city had been destroyed by the two superstrong beings clashing fists and tossing each other all over the place. Even though Luke wasn't nearly as strong as Neutron, he was just as invulnerable, so neither man could hurt the other. Bobby found himself playing the role of tipping point. His cyrokinesis had evolved to the point that he was easily considered an Omega level mutant, the highest rating in the SHIELD index.

As Luke and Neutron struggled against each other, with the latter pushing the former back with only a scant amount of difficulty, Bobby concentrated on the latter. He knew from experience from the X-Men's dealings with the Imperial Guard during the Phoenix saga that Neutron could survive in space. He didn't need to eat, sleep, or breath. However, his brain still needed blood to flow through it to function properly. A flow that Bobby could prevent with his molecular temperature control. Even someone as powerful as Neutron wasn't immune.

His durability allowed him to keep fighting even with no blood flowing to his brain, but his movements had slowed considerably, to the point that he couldn't lay a finger on the fresh and healthy Luke Cage. Eventually, he fell to a knee, then slumped to the ground.

Bobby watched him passively, inwardly debating letting him die. The temptation was stronger than he wanted to admit, but morality won out, compelling him to thaw out the vessels in his brain to spare his life.

"Well, damn," Luke chuckled before hoisting the unconscious alien over his shoulder and quickly stepping inside the hideout. There, he and Bobby found Ororo and T'Challa tending to a bloody wound on Hussar's neck. "Any more of you clowns on the way?"

Hussar didn't respond, instead keeping her head down and eyes pointed toward the floor. A quick glance revealed why; Lilandra's glare was nuclear. If looks could kill, Hussar would have been a pile of ash by then.

"How could you betray me, Hussar?" she demanded. Her voice was still weak from days of imprisonment, but it was still strong enough to make the guards-woman wince. "What did my sister promise you? Power? Prominence? Wealth?"

Several long, tense moments of silence proceeded any utterance that resembled an answer. "She manipulated us," Hussar finally admitted. Her voice was quiet, as if fearing that Deathbird was waiting outside as she spoke. "She convinced us that your seeking to ally the Shi'ar with the Kree and the Earthlings would lead to our being conquered. We thought we were acting for the good of the Empire! Please, you must—!"

"Silence."

Hussar quit speaking mid-word and fell silent. A soft sigh escaped her as her head bowed low again.

Lilandra kept her caustic gaze on the traitor for several seconds longer until she shook her head. "Get them both out of my sight." She slumped into a chair and heaved out a heavy sigh. "I had thought that allying with the Kree would allow an interchange of technology and culture that would benefit both parties. Turns out that it was more trouble than it was worth."

"Take it from a guy who knows, Darlin'," Logan spoke as he leaned against the wall adjacent to the door. "Those blue bastards ain't worth no kind of trouble."

"We may be a little biased," T'Challa interjected. He rubbed his chin in thought. "It seems that these false documents your sister used to oust you from the throne were also used to sway members of your Guard to her cause. If so, then betrayal is not the only issue we have to concern ourselves with."

"What do you mean?" Bobby asked.

"Unless Deathbird managed to gain support from _every_ member of the Imperial Guard, there are several who may have been imprisoned for remaining loyal to Her Highness Lilandra. If so, then they may very well be executed in short order to prevent them from giving us and our cause much needed support," he explained.

"Shit." After thinking it over, they realized that T'Challa had the right of it. Once Cal'syee found out that Neutron and Hussar failed, she would likely execute any and all pro-Lilandra Guards as soon as possible to stop them from supporting the pending rebellion. She was many things, but stupid wasn't one of them.

* * *

 **Meanwhile**

It had just been reported to Cal'syee that Neutron and Hussar had been quickly defeated by the X-Men and the other two humans with them. Her reaction was less than pleasant.

{INCOMPETENT CLODS! Why do I even depend on you imbeciles?!} She sighed heavily and placed her head in her hands. {All I asked you to do was to kill the humans and bring my sister to me. That was not a difficult request, but those two idiots managed to muck it up all the same.}

The remainder of the Imperial Guard loyal to her stood silently around the table at which she was seated. On top of the table were several documents, many of which detailing the riots that were taking place around the planet. It seemed that not everyone believed the evidence she used to oust her sister from the throne.

After hearing that Corsair was among those who managed to escape along with Lilandra, she knew that it was only a matter of time before the evidence he compiled found its way into the hands of the media. It was going to take all she had to keep it from spreading too far out of control, but in order to do that, Lilandra had to be dead.

A sense of dread and anxiety washed over her. She had sacrificed too much, risked too much to fail now before her reign as Magestrix had barely begun. "If this is how she wishes to play it, so be it." She stood from the table and walked out into the hall. {Summon Gladiator immediately. He and I will put an end to this nonsense once and for all.}


	25. Gladiatorial Games

_**Gladiatorial Games**_

 **Somewhere Within the Shi'ar Empire**

Kallark, otherwise known as Gladiator, had been called away to deal with a rather large uprising on one of the annexed planets belonging to the Shi'ar. Apparently, several of the natives didn't appreciate being forcibly added to the already expansive, sprawling galactic empire. Despite Lilandra's best efforts to smooth things over, they remained disgruntled, and this was the result.

No trouble for Gladiator. Immensely strong, fast, durable, and powerful, he was able to quell the rebellion by himself within a few minutes. Shortly after, he received word that there had been a change in power; Lilandra's exiled sister, Cal'syee, somehow found herself serving as Shi'ar Magestrix. It was even reported that Lilandra had been feeding sensitive government secrets to the Kree for some time now.

Gladiator knew that wasn't true. Even if he didn't know the exact details of her relationship with the Kree, he knew for a fact that it was only for the good of the Shi'ar. It was times like this that he hated being honor bound to the throne. He cared for Lilandra deeply; she was his dear friend. Deathbird was an ambitious witch who lied and manipulated her way into power, at the expense of her own family. Knowing that he had to serve the latter while living in a world where the former was branded a traitor hurt him more than any weapon ever could.

It had been a week, and he only met with the new Magestrix once to confirm his loyalty to her. To actually pledge allegiance to that slimy snake made his skin crawl, but he had no choice.

He had been fortunate to not be needed thus far, allowing him to stay away from Deathbird. That was until he received word from Chandilar. The X-Men had found themselves on the throne-world and were causing Deathbird serious problems. She wanted him to take care of them and bring Lilandra to her.

{Understood,} he replied before immediately taking flight for Chandilar. With his immense speed – which easily exceeded the speed of light by many orders – he would be there within moments, despite being in another galaxy many light-years away from the throne-world.

* * *

"What's our next move, Dad?" Scott inquired. They had bound the two imperial guards and secured them in a supply closet. Neutron was still unconscious and would remain that way until Bobby thawed out the blood vessels in his brain completely.

"We head to the Palace, free the Guards loyal to Her Majesty here, then confront Deathbird," Corsair replied quickly. "But first, we make one more move." He pressed a button on the console he had been working at earlier. "I just sent those files to every news media station across the empire. It won't be long before everyone finds out Cal'syee is a liar."

"My name will be cleared?" Lilandra asked hopefully.

"You got it. Whether or not Deathbird decides to go quietly into that good night is another matter entirely."

"You leave that to us, bub."

Suddenly, there was a tremendous crash outside, followed immediately by the ground shaking violently. Violently enough to knock the heroes off their feet. "Earthquake?!" Luke bellowed.

"On an artificial planet? No way!" Corsair managed to climb to his feet and quickly helped Bobby get Lilandra to hers. "Goddamn it, I hope it isn't who I think it is. Head out back, quickly."

The door, which had been barricaded by the door and a table to hold it up, was reduced to scrap. Gladiator stepped inside. He had purple colored skin, pointed ears, and a dark-blue mohawk. His uniform was red with yellow accents, and a collared cape. On his chest was his symbol: a yellow triangle with a small gap in the bottom left corner.

The X-Men, Corsair, and Lilandra back away, trembling slightly out of fear and apprehension. Gladiator could defeat all of them in seconds without breaking a sweat. They, on the other hand, wouldn't lay a finger on him. Even if they did, that finger would break against his unyielding frame.

"Stand down at once," he ordered authoritatively. "I do not wish to harm you, but I will do what I must."

"Kallark, please!" Lilandra begged. "Cal'syee is lying! Nothing she has accused me of has any merit!"

"It does not matter. She is the Magestrix, and I am honor bound to obey her every command. I have been ordered to bring you back to the prison, and that is what I must do." Every word seemed forced. It was obvious that his heart was not in his actions. Just speaking about assaulting the X-Men and Lilandra pained him far worse than he feared it would. "Just surrender."

"We ain't surrenderin' to anyone, bub!" Logan leaped and bounced off the wall to lunge at Gladiator's blindside.

"So be it," he spoke to himself, even as Logan leaped at him. The mutant seemed to be moving more slowly than the slowest statue from his perspective. "I gave you ample time to reconsider. Now you give me no choice. I promise this will be painless. Please realize that I take no pleasure in this."

From Logan's – and everyone else's – point of view, Gladiator simply vanished, causing him to stab his claws into the floor. The very next instant, Logan was flying through several walls and into the building across the street.

Before anyone could even react, a red blur zipped through the room, sending bodies flying at unbelievable speed into the walls with a single touch. Lilandra could only blink once before she found herself trapped within Gladiator's vice-like grip. She struggled, but it was impossible for her to break free. "Unhand me!"

"Fine." Another instant passed, and suddenly, Lilandra found herself staring at her sister within her throne-room on the palace.

"What?" She stumbled and fell forward onto her hands and knees. In an instant, the X-Men, Corsair, and Luke Cage were beside her, also on their knees. She noticed that T'Challa was missing, but kept silent.

"Ahahaha! You have done well, Gladiator!" Cal'syee commended giddily. "Yes. On your knees at my feet is your proper station in life, dear _sister."_

"Cal'syee, you swine! You will not get away with your lies and treachery."

"Ha! All of my rivals are currently kneeling before me as I speak. Who is left? Who could possibly dare to challenge the strength of the mighty Gladiator?" She stood so she could walk up to the kneeling prisoners. "The X-Men? Corsair and his Starjammers?" She frowned and tilted her head when she came up to Luke. "Whoever... this is? Hm?"

As much as she wanted to argue, Lilandra knew that no one there stood a chance against Gladiator. "Tch."

"Hmph. Thought so."

"They cannot, but perhaps I can." The new voice belonged to T'Challa, who was standing in the doorway leading inside the throne-room. His arms were clasped behind his back as part of his non-threatening posture. "I am T'Challa, king of the country of Wakanda, of the planet Earth."

Cal'syee raised a curious eyebrow and beheld the new arrival. "King, hm? Well, from one monarch to another, let me give you some words of wisdom. Cut your losses and go back to your country. For you stand no chance in the slightest against Gladiator."

"Perhaps not, but that does not mean I will not win the day."

"Oh?" She gestured lazily, to which Gladiator nodded. In a fraction of an instant, he was behind T'Challa and shoving him forward. "Still think so, human?"

T'Challa picked himself off the floor, where he had slid the entire two hundred feet from the doorway to the throne. "Perhaps I was mistaken. I surrender." He fell to his knees and raised his arms in defeat. The action drew surprised and frustrated murmurs from his fellow prisoners.

Deathbird roared with laughter. "Oh! Oh, the bravado of you humans! Oh, how quickly your confidence is shattered by a single shove!"

T'Challa remained silent.

Lilandra growled impotently. "You coward! If you wanted the throne, you should have challenged me for it, instead of using lies and trickery."

"Hmph. Why, when lying is so much easier?"

"So, you admit it," T'Challa stated plainly.

"Of course. What harm will come of it, when you all will be dead in a few moments. Yes, I forged the documents proving my sisters 'treachery', and bribed several of the Imperial Guards to help me. Those that refused are rotting away under the palace, in bound and gagged until I decided to execute them."

Gladiator made a infuriated noise, but knew there was nothing he could do.

"Hm. I see," T'Challa spoke. "A very ingenious ploy. One that worked to perfection."

"Yes. Now then." She gestured to Gladiator again. "Incinerate them now."

"Wait! Before you execute us, I have one question, if I may beg your indulgence."

She gave T'Challa a withering glare, but sighed. "Fine. What is it?"

"Is there a television screen in this room?"

"What sort of ridiculous question is that?" She sighed tersely, then pressed a button on the arm of her throne to activate a holographic screen. "There. Anything else?"

"Yes, actually. If you can please turn it to the news, I have a feeling you will like what you see."

That cryptic remark gave her serious pause. She swallowed nervously, and did as he requested. The screen flickered to life, displaying... her! "What the?" It was her on her throne, with the X-Men, Corsair, Luke, and T'Challa on their knees before her. Gladiator was standing stoically at a distance behind them, arms folded over his chest.

" _What the?"_

"Huh?!"

" _Huh?!"_

"What... what trickery is this?! What have you done?!" she roared as she shot off her chair and grabbed T'Challa by the throat.

" _What... what trickery is this?! What have you done?!" she roared as she shot off her chair and grabbed T'Challa by the throat._

"Heh. I have been feeding your every word through a recording device built into my suit. That feed is being displayed on every news station in the empire, as we speak."

The color, every ounce of it, drained from Cal'syee's face. "No," she whispered in sheer disbelief. She dropped T'Challa and back away. Her every action was repeated on the screen to her right. He was telling the truth. Every word she spoke since he arrived was seen by every single citizen of the Shi'ar Empire. Including her confession. "You... you bastard!"

Suddenly, imperial soldiers burst into the room, armed with javelins and spears. They quickly approached Deathbird and grabbed hold of her. "You're under arrest for treason and crimes against the empire. Come along—ack!"

Metal feathers stuck out of the soldiers' necks, shot from Deathbird's wings in the blink of an eye. "Fools! I will not go quietly." She flapped her wings and shot into the air. "Come face me and die!"

A pair of yellow beams zipped through the air and transpierced her shoulder, coaxing a shrill shriek from the traitor and sending her crashing to the floor. The next instant, she was within Gladiator's grasp. "What do you wish for me to do with this traitor, Empress?"

Lilandra's smirk was the epitome of smug. She rose to her feet and slowly walked to her throne and sat down. "Toss her in the prison, then round up the traitors and throw them in there along with her. I'll deal with them once my thinking is clear. Now, I'd be liable to execute the lot of them."

"Heh. Pretty damn clever, Panther," Logan commended.

"Yes, my love. Your ingenuity will never cease to amaze me," Ororo commended with a soft smile.

T'Challa chuckled as he helped her to her feet. "It was nothing, my dear. Deathbird is truly to thank. Were it not for her overwhelming ego, this would not have happened."

Cal'syee hissed savagely, thrashing and bucking within Gladiator's grip as he carried her to the prison. "Curse you all! I will see you bastards dead for this! You have not seen the last of Deathbird!"

It took several moments, but the X-Men went through the palace and quickly dispatched of the treacherous Imperial Guard members and tossed them into the prison at Lilandra's command. It was obvious that it would take a few weeks before all the legal muck created by Cal'syee's coup would clear up, but Lilandra's name was as good as cleared, thanks to Corsair's evidence and Deathbird's own confession. As a token of her appreciation, Lilandra offered them one boon.

They, of course, asked for a single shard of the M'Kraan crystal. She agreed without hesitation. "If that is your wish, then by all means help yourself to a shard," she said graciously. "I cannot thank you enough for your help. Had you not arrived when you did, I would surely be dead."

"Don't think nothin' of it, Lilandra," Logan answered with a wave of his hand. "Least we could do."

"Take care, Lilandra. And thanks for the shard." With that, and further farewells, the team exited the palace and gathered around to use Shuri's teleporter to jump back to the Damocles. There was still much work to be done, and they had lost several hours thanks to this coup. "Dad, we couldn't have done it without you."

"I'd be still in jail if not for you, so let's call it even." Father and son hugged again, tightly as always in case this was the final time they'd see each other. It was a fear they shared, but kept to themselves to avoid jinxing their good fortune so far. "Until again, son. Tell Jean I said hi."

"I will. Bye, Dad."

In a flash of white light, the team was gone, whisked several light-years away in an instant to the Damocles.


	26. Clash of Gods

_**Clash of Gods**_

 **Castle Doom**

Steve led a small team of some of the weaker heroes through the halls of Castle Doom in search of Odin. Since the more powerful villains were distracted – including Doom himself – they met nearly no resistance to their progression. What roadblocks they did meet were overcome quickly. They moved quickly. Time was very much against them, and the others weren't going to hold out much longer against Doom, Hela, and Fenris. Plus, there was the horrifying thought that there were even more enemies of Thor's waiting in the wings.

The building trembled from the forces being put out outside. The power these so-called 'gods' possessed was staggering. They were far more powerful than anyone they had ever faced. It only made finding Odin and getting him his power back all that much more important. If they were too late, the entire planet was going to be ripped apart once one of these clowns decided to really cut loose.

"Summers and his team are really taking their sweet time getting back with that crystal," Natasha muttered, though Steve was certain she knew he heard her.

He hummed his agreement. "They must have run into trouble."

"So much for being 'tight' with the empress, then."

He cut her a glance, but said nothing. He didn't expect Natasha to be one to hold a grudge for _this_ long. Then again, he really didn't know much about the woman who had been his partner and teammate for seven years.

"So, what exactly are we going to do once we find Odin?" Daredevil inquired. "We don't have all the pieces for that contraption Reed talked about, and Strange isn't back yet."

A valid question; one Steve had been hoping to avoid until they reached the moment when it became pertinent. He had no plan. They were surrounded by the Allfather's enemies, with no way to transport him to Asgard, and no means of defending him against Hela and the rest of those with her. And that wasn't even considering that Doom was guarding him himself. "Just follow the plan. That's the only thing we can do for now."

He didn't particularly like the plan they came up with. It depended on too much that was out of their control. It was the best they could come up with, but it still made him feel uneasy.

They finally reached a staircase that led to an vast, empty area of the castle. In the back of this area, strapped into some kind of technological contraption, was Odin. He was bloodied, unconscious, and badly injured.

Steve cautiously led the others down the steps, then stopped at the final step.

"What is it?" Bobbi whispered.

"Something isn't right," was all he said in answer. There should have been some kind of security here. If not Doom himself, then a horde of Doombots, villains, _something._

"How right you are, Captain," Doom answered as he floated down majestically from above. "I wondered how long it would take you to find your way here. The answer, unsurprisingly, is too long." He landed without a sound at the midway point between them and Odin. His arms folded across his chest. Despite the sheer madness happening just outside Castle Doom's stone walls, he was the picture of calm. "Imagine my disappointment when I realize that those false gods outside have attracted the attention of all of my worthiest foes. Alas, I find that I must test my power once again against you cretins."

 _Son of a bitch!_ Steve thought bitterly.

 _I would appreciate it greatly if you would never desecrate my mother's good name, Rogers,_ Doom's voice resonated in his head. With that, he swept his arm outward, sending a shell-shocked Steve flying into the staircase with a sickening thud.

Bobbi, Natasha, and Matt scattered, spreading out to surround Doom.

Doom chuckled. "So, the ants seek to topple the elephant, eh? Very well, I shall humor you lot once again. But know that this will be the final time." He made no move to dodge or defend against their attacks as the three street-level heroes converged on him. Steve, when he managed to rouse himself, joined in. The result was the same as before. Their attacks did nothing. Their strikes didn't even move him an inch, much less hurt him in any way. They actually didn't even manage to wrinkle his tunic. "Are you finished?"

Steve smirked. "You can say that." Suddenly, he and the others vanished through a swirling pink portal.

"Hm?" He glanced behind him and found that the containment machine he had Odin strapped inside was empty. He double took. The Allfather was gone! "What the?! Impossible!" He trembled with anger and let out a mighty roar that shook the entire castle. "CURSED FOOLS! YOU DARE MAKE A FOOL OF ME?!"

In a burst of anger, he exploded into motion, crashing through the walls of his beloved home like wet newspaper. In his wrathful state, he failed to consider using his cosmic awareness, which was part of the Odinforce's powerset. If he had, he would have easily detected an invisible Sue sneaking into the area from another way and making Odin invisible. Steve and the others attacking was merely a distraction. One that worked to perfection, with no major injuries.

Sue waited several long, tense moments to see if Doom was going to return. When he didn't, she radioed in. "I have Odin secure. Should I try and break him out?"

Steve answered. _=No. Strange is en route, so leave him be until he and the others get there. Peter, Danny, and Reed are on their way.=_

"Understood." _Please hurry, guys._

* * *

Doom exploded out of his castle and was met by unmitigated chaos. Superheroes were battling the immense army of the undead belonging to the death goddess, Hela. She herself was toying with the likes of Stark, Thor, Danvers, and Rambeau. Banner, Grimm, and others were fighting the wolf god, Fenris. Doom was certain more of the Asgardian's ilk would show up eventually. This would have unnerved a lesser man, but Doom wasn't lesser.

He wasn't even a man. He was a god.

There was no obstacle that could stymie his genius, no roadblock that could block his ambition. Be it mortal or immortal, all would know the mighty and glory and majesty of Doom.

With this singular goal in mind, he started to make his way toward the strongest of these so-called "deities". That person was clearly Hela. If he recalled correctly, Hela was Loki's daughter. It was she with whom he made the deal that allowed Doom and the others to make use of Raven's Spire, the place where his ascension took place.

He was more than a little curious what she asked for in exchange for allowing them passage into her realm. Perhaps the triggering of this phenomenon? How such a thing could have taken place was a mystery, but...

 _Unless... no, he wouldn't. Not when knowing I can destroy him at any time._

The idea of Loki somehow tricking him into triggering this event was laughable. Even though he was a natural liar, Doom knew all. Doom could not be fooled even by the smoothest of speakers. He would have seen through such a scheme and turned the tables instantly. No, this had come about through another means.

"You there," he spoke once close enough for Hela to hear him. "I don't believe we have been properly introduced. I am Victor von Doom, ruler of the planet Earth and true owner of the Doomforce."

Hela stopped what she was doing – punching Tony into a ever-deepening crater – and turned to face him. "Hm. So, the fool has a name."

"Fool? Heh. You share your father's sense of humor, I see. Perhaps you also share his sense of self-preservation."

"I would think it not necessary to preserve myself against one as feeble and lowly as you, mortal." She hummed quietly and approached him. "Aye, you do indeed have the Odinforce flowing through you. How, I know not, but in the end, it matters little. You are in the presence of true divinity, child. Speak carefully, lest I smite thee."

 _Child?_ Doom bristled, but calmed himself soon after. "Smite? Me? Hehehe. Truly, you are a mistress of the humorous yarn."

"Hm. What you call exaggeration, young one, is what I call truth. Behold." With a mere flick of her wrist, she sent a pitch black sword flying toward him.

Doom casually moved to knock it out of the air, but found that it sliced through his unseen power. He had to dive out of the way in order to avoid being skewered. _Hm. More powerful than I gave her credit for. I will have to actually try with this one._ "Well, I see you are a notch above these lowly mortals that have plagued me the last few days. Good. I was beginning to grow lethargic."

He launched himself at the death goddess, hands aglow with the Odinforce's stunning power. His fist collided with Hela's forearm, which she raised to block. The force of such a collision created a tidal wave of earth and dirt that overtook the nearby heroes and swept them away.

A sword appeared in Hela's hand, which she barely missed hacking him in half with. She gave chase when he flew into the air, a sickly green energy bleeding from the blade. She grinned sadistically as she sliced through the energy blasts he hurled her way with casual ease.

 _What is happening?!_ Doom frowned in frustration under his mask, but did not relent. He had not yet begun to tap into the full depth of the Odinforce. It was clear, with that in mind, that the only reason she was having this kind of success at this early juncture was because he wasn't trying as hard as he was capable.

Hela cackled and spiraled around a beam fired from Doom, then sent a swarm of swords at him in retaliation. She watched him barely manage to deflect them, then used that moment of distraction to cut the distance to a fraction. "You truly are unaware, are you not?"

Doom blocked her backhand, then used the momentum to hurl her into the ground. "Unaware of what?"

Hela slowed to a stop, and hovered horizontally inches above the ruin ground. "During Ragnarok, the forces of evil grow exponentially in strength. It is how we match and defeat the likes of Odin and Thor."

 _What?!_ His eyes narrowed. "An interesting factoid, indeed, but it matters little. I am no mere user of the Odinforce. I am Doom, greatest god of all!" He roared, exerting his power even more than he already had. The sky itself shook and trembles as cerulean streaks of light poured off of him and pierced the pitch black storm clouds above. "This is the power of Doom!"

The attack he launched, tremendous arc of energy, was powerful enough to destroy the planet if it hit. It was already enough to cause the planet to shake like a global earthquake.

"Hm. Better, but," she swept her hands outward and launched her own arcing energy blast to meet his, "'tis not enough!"

The two attacks met and intermingled for a tense moment. Then, everything went dark.

* * *

Stephen helped Frigga to her feet. He, Wanda, and Clea managed to help her defeat Malakith and his army of Dark Elves after they attempted to slay the Asgardian queen as revenge for humiliating him in combat during his failed invasion of Asgard. It wasn't an easy battle by any measure, but the element of surprise, plus the timely acquisition of the time gem, helped push matters in their favor. "Are you okay, Your Highness?"

"I am well enough to stand, so I may fight, sorcerer," Frigga answered. "I do not understand how Malakith has grown in power to such a degree. During his invasion, I bested him with ease. Now, I struggled to even defeat one of his minions."

"One of our allies told us that Ragnarok has started," he replied.

Her face drained of all color. "By the gods. This... this is not possible. Unless... either my son, Balder, is dead, or someone other than my husband has unsheathed the Oversword of Doom."

With a name like that, there was little question whether that was a good thing or not. "According to our allies, the forces of evil are congregated in Latveria. We ourselves must travel to my home, the Sanctum Sanctorum, to restore the Allfather's powers. The longer we wait, the more time Doom will have to cause serious damage."

Frigga nodded firmly. "Very well. It has been some time since I have practiced magic, but I will do all I can."

"Good. We need to leave no—" Suddenly, a wave of energy swept over them, destroying everything in sight. It would have killed the four sorcerers had Stephen not managed to erect a large enough shield in such a scant amount of time.

When all was clear, the immense power that nearly overtook them became plainly evident by its aftermath. There was nothing left. The only things standing were them and small pieces of rubble, cornerstones of buildings, and a few fortunate trees. Everything else had been reduced to nothing.

"What the hell?" Clea cursed harshly. "What was that?!"

"A clash of gods," Stephen answered gravely. "We must hurry. Doom must be battling one of the gods." His spun his hand in a circular motion, opening a sling ring that led directly into the Santcum. There, they could see Wong finishing the final preparations. "Through here. Hurry." As they walked through, he followed last and closed the sling ring behind him. "Wong, is everything ready?"

"Almost, Dr. Strange. A few moments longer."

"Good. That will give us time to retrieve the Allfather." He opened another sling ring, this one leading into Castle Doom. They could see Sue struggling to climb to her knees. "Mrs. Richards, are you alright?"

"Ugh," she groaned softly. She lost consciousness.

Stephen sighed, and gently laid her hand down on the floor. "We have no time to waste." With a simple spell, he levitated the entire machine holding Odin into the air and moved it through the sling ring.

At the sight of her husband, Frigga's eyes widened in horror. "What did they do to you?" she whispered. Her trembling fingers gently touched one of his bloodied wounds. The blood was dried, but the wound hadn't been tended to. "He will pay with his life."

= _Coulson to Strange, is everything almost ready?=_

"Yes, Director Coulson. We are just about ready to begin. We have Odin here in the Sanctum."

= _Ah, great. Shit just hit the fan in Latveria, so we don't have much time left.=_

"Understood." He glanced at Wong, who nodded once. "Good." Black magical energy swirled around his hands, then bled out and over the machine. Moments later, it dissolved away, leaving only Odin. Wanda levitated him onto a platform that was in the center of an arcane symbol, the same used by Doom and his allies during the initial ritual.

* * *

Everything was ready. Just in time, as Scott and his team finally arrived on the Damocles.

"Sure took your sweet time, Summers," Coulson commented dryly.

Reed quickly took the M'Kraan crystal shard and went about fastening it to a device attached to the muonic inducer.

"Sorry. Political family dispute. What's happening on Earth?"

"The end of the world. Doom is battling some Asgardian gods and is losing. We need to capitalize on that, preferably before they wipe out all life on Earth."

"Tuesday already? Alright, let's move, team."

Before they could get too far, Reed stopped them by stretching his arm out in front of them. In his hand was the shard powered by the muonic inducer. "Take this with you. You have to actually come into physical contact with Doom for it to work."

Bobby sighed heavily. "Oh. Wonderful. Thanks."

* * *

Meanwhile, in Latveria, all was quiet and still. The clash between Hela and Doom was titanic even in its beginning stages. By dipping into the Odinforce more than he had before, Doom finally managed to match Hela's power, but at great personal cost.

Latveria had been completely leveled. There wasn't a single building left standing, other than Castle Doom. Miraculously, his family home had been spared absolute devastation.

Equally as amazing, the heroes had also survived. They were worse for wear, but they were still alive. _It seems they are destined to remain thorns in my side forever._

"Well," Hela chuckled mirthfully. "I must admit I am impressed. For such a weak attack, you caused quite a bit of destruction. Or, mayhap, that was my half of the equation. Either way, well done."

Doom said nothing in reply, which was more than enough of a reply in itself.

"You are to be congratulated! You survived, which is more than I would be able to say about Odin, the old tyrant. Clearly, you are in fact the true lord and master of the Odinforce. Oh! I mean the _Doom_ force."

It was clear that Hela also inherited Loki's sharp tongue and cutting sarcasm. "You speak highly, yet I have withstood your attacks so far with little trouble."

At that, Hela shook her head and laughed mockingly. "Oh, dear boy. I have not even begun!" When the final word was spoken, her entire demeanor changed. Her visage became sharper, and her aura more dangerous. The magics bleeding off of her darkened a touch, more closely resembling the pitch black abyss above them. "Since you insist, I shall show you the futility of resistance, and why I am the goddess of death."

* * *

 _ **A/N:** Doom's Day will be wrapping up soon. There are for sure two more chapters, with maybe two more at most after those. _


	27. Divine Intervention

_**Divine Intervention**_

 **Latveria**

When Scott and his team arrived in Latveria, it was like they were standing in the middle of a barren wasteland. There wasn't a single building outside of Castle Doom standing. What was worse, many of the heroes were down and out, either unconscious or awake but unable to move under their own power.

In the distance, Doom in the middle of a violent clash with a woman in green. He didn't know who she was, but it was obvious she was more than Doom could handle. In other words, she was far too much for any of them to handle. With that in mind, Scott knew he needed to devise another plan to avoid getting too close to the fight.

He looked at the device in his hand. "Hm." Reed said that all they needed to do was come into physical contact with Doom for it to work. Meaning the muonic inducer had to come into contact with him. In his mind, it wasn't necessary for _them_ to touch him, or even be anywhere close.

He had an idea. It was a long-shot, but it was the best shot they had at the moment. "Where's Hawkeye?"

* * *

At the Sanctum, the ritual was going off without a hitch. Everyone was performing their role to perfection, yet something was missing. When Doom and his menagerie of murderous magi performed the ritual, they had Odin right there to draw the Odinforce out of and into Doom. This time, they only had Odin, but not Doom. They needed Doom there to draw the Odinforce out of him. That posed many problems; not the least of which being keeping him down long enough.

Sensing Stephen's frustration, but knowing he was unable to actually voice them – doing so would have interrupted the ritual, meaning they would have to start all over – Wong picked up an extra comm device and contacted Coulson. "Director Coulson, this is Wong. We are performing the ritual as I speak, but there is a problem."

 _=Oh God, now what?=_

"Without Doom here, we will be unable to draw the Odinforce out of him and return it to Odin."

Coulson cursed, but otherwise didn't respond. Wong could hear him muttering something under his breath. _=Hang on.=_

* * *

Coulson witnessed Scott giving Clint the M'Kraan crystal devise and telling him something. Clint nodded and attached the device to an arrow, then used his sleeve to crudely fasten it tightly. "Genius." He tapped his comm. "Wong, I think your problem is about to be solved. Open one of those portals on my command, as close to Doom as you can. I'll hold Clint off so we can time it right. How close are you to finishing to ritual?"

 _=Nearly complete. The power transferal needs to happen now.=_

"Perfect. On my mark."

* * *

Scott's plan was ingenius, but hinged on 1) Doom bothering to catch the arrow by the head and not just swat it away, and 2) it not being destroyed in the backlash of the battle between him and Hela. Clint was the greatest shot in the world, so actually finding a shot wasn't going to be an issue. He swallowed nervously and notched the arrow.

 _=Barton, it's Coulson. You need to time that shot just right. Wong is about to open a portal to the Sanctum on my mark so the wizards can link the M'Kraan crystal to the ritual. That should let them sap Doom's power.=_

"Got it." That only put more pressure on this shot. If Doom didn't cooperate, everything was going to go down the shitter in a heartbeat. This was their one and only shot.

Doom was zipping around the sky faster than Clint could follow in a desperate bid to avoid Hela's wicked swords. The bow didn't move, but Clint's eyes followed the would-be god as quickly as they were able. _Just hold still for a second, you bastard._

A flash of light and suddenly, a large blue sword was in Doom's hand. He managed to block a downward swing by Hela in time. The two were locked in a struggle for position, neither gaining ground on the other.

Then, Doom started to win, pushing Hela back inch by inch.

Sweat poured down Clint's face. His chance was nearly on him, he just needed to wait a little bit longer. _Almost._

Doom started to gain more ground, hacking away at Hela's sword with the Odinsword. The wicked death goddess was on the defensive. Then, with one more mighty swing, he batted her to the ground with enough force to kick up a large cloud of dust.

 _Now!_ Clint loosed the arrow. It sliced through the air and arced directly for the back of Doom's head. _Come on, you fucker._

Without even looking back, Doom caught the arrow by the crystal, then looked at it disdainfully. "'Doom', eh?" he stated, reading the name on the shaft. "Heh. Barton, you fool. You—" Suddenly, the crystal started to glow. The muonic inducer started to draw the Odinforce out and store it in the crystal. Doom was growing weaker, but not nearly enough for it to make a difference.

 _=Now, Wong!=_

The next moment, a sling ring opened near Doom. With synchronized movement and timing, Stephen and Wanda severed their link to each other and each attached a magical tether to the M'Kraan crystal. Since Doom was holding it, he, too, was linked.

"What! NO!" The ritual did its work. Every second, more and more of the Odinforce was sucked out of Doom and returned to Odin. Second by second, Doom felt his stolen power escaping him. "This... cannot... be... happening!" He tried to escape, but it was too late.

By this point, Hela had roused herself and was back on her feet. She looked up to witness what was happening and tilted her head curiously. "Intriguing. So, that is how he did it." She frowned as her mind pondered the ramifications. It only took a second before she realized what was really happening. "NO!" She dashed into the air, intent on jumping through the portal and killing all on the other side before the Vishanti spell could be completed.

"I say to thee nay!" Thor rocketed in and tackled her before she could cross halfway. The two gods fell to the ground, where they wrestled for position.

"Get off of me, you fool!" With a burst of energy, she blasted Thor away, then rose quickly to her feet.

She was too late. The spell had been completed in record time. The dual draining effects of the spell and the muonic inducer vastly reduced the time needed, and rendered Doom completely powerless in mere moments. "No."

The sling ring dissipated, allowing Doctor Doom to fall from the sky. He landed a short way from Hela, on his back, not moving. Tense moments ticked by one by one. The battles had stopped; Hela's allies were waiting with dread for what was to come next.

A minute later, something did indeed happen. What looked like an immense trail of green smoke billowed in from underground. Light around the cloud shimmered as it gradually took on a solid form. A dark green serpent, whose head was at least a hundred feet wide and whose body stretched for miles until it disappeared well over the horizon.

Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent and Loki's second son.

"Son of Odin, 'tis time for you to meet your demise by my hand," he spoke clearly, his deep voice booming through the otherwise silent landscape.

"Brother," Hela hissed irately, "why did you tarry so long?! The Allfather will arrive soon. Once he retrieves the Oversword, all will be lost, you fool!"

"Hm?" It was clear that he was ignorant as to what all had been happening during his absence. "What foolishness you speak, sister. Not even the mighty Odin may defeat me now that Ragnarok is upon us. The death of his son has brought about his demise."

"Nay, I say to you, brother," Fenris spoke. "The Oversword has been unleashed, that is why Ragnarok is upon us. Balder lives still."

"What?!"

"Okay, two things." Clint spoke with unusual calmness. "One, I'm actually surprise that plan worked. Two, what is the actual living fuck is that?!"

"It appears to be a massive serpent of some kind," T'Challa answered, feeling that the obvious was the only possible answer he could wrap his brain around.

"How the hell are we supposed to fight something like that?" The snake was one of Thor's enemies, so obviously he must have found some way to defeat it. The problem was that with Doom done and dealt with, he was going to be the focus of every enemy's attention. "There has to be something we can do."

As the three gods conversed among themselves, they advanced toward Doom's prone body. The Oversword lay on the ground close by.

"If I heard one of them correctly," Ororo uttered, "that sword is the cause of all of this. We must not let them retrieve it."

Jormungand shook off his initial shock-induced paralysis and bared his fangs. "Very well. If this Ragnarok is destined to be short-lived, then I shall not tarry a moment longer!" With that, he lunged at Thor, his destined foe. Large drops of highly fatal venom dripped from his massive fangs. Just one bite was foretold to kill Thor after he took seven steps.

Thor leaped out of the way, resulting in the giant serpent burying his head in the earth.

"I think not!" Fenris leaped onto Thor's back, driving the thunderer into the ground. His ravenous jaws started to rip and tear at the god's flesh, drawing blood and eliciting grunts of pain.

Clint's eyes grew into saucers as he stood by and watched helplessly. He was barely able to stand. Much of the energy he had left was used to draw back his bow and shoot at Doom. He didn't have much left to walk, much less fight not one but three godlike beings. "There has to be something we can do. They're killing him!"

"We will do what we can." With that, Storm rose into the air, and took command of the elements themselves. In a heartbeat, the pitch black skies above her started to rumble menacingly. "Lightning! Winds! I command the very wrath of the Earth itself!" Lightning erupted from the clouds, dozens of bolts all converging on the children of Loki. It wasn't much – in fact, they barely noticed, and wouldn't have had she not said anything – but it was just enough to get their attention away from Thor.

That was good.

In doing so, however, it placed their attention squarely on her.

That was bad.

"Hm. Well, 'twould seem that the thunderer has himself an admirer," Hela spoke mockingly. She dashed into the air and was in front of Ororo before she could blink. "Tell me, little girl, what exactly do you think you are doing?"

"Goddess!" Storm jerked her arm out, sending forth a burst of powerful, hurricane force wind to put some distance between the two of them.

It didn't little more than ruffle Hela's cape. "Hmph. Such paltry power. Is this really the best your puny race has to offer?"

An optic blast pelted her in the side, followed by several more. Hela's attention turned from Ororo to Scott for a brief moment, allowing the former to get away to safety. "More insects for me to squash." She landed quickly, and was soon flanked by her two brothers. "Now then, before we slaughter you like the little lambs you are, tell me your names, so that my minions may sing of your glorious deaths in the coming centuries."

"You claim victory so assuredly, when the battle has not yet been fought," T'Challa responded.

"Of course. Of what threat are you to one of us alone, let alone all three at once?"

To that, they had no response. There was no denying that any one of them could easily kill them.

"Do not dismiss us mere mortals so quickly," he replied confidently.

"Oh? And why should I not?"

Just then, the dingy sky was made alight by some unknown source, brighter than any sun could ever hope to achieve. "We have allies in high places."

A pillar of light exploded from the clouds, piercing them and slamming into the ground. The next instant, the Oversword of Doom floated into the air and zipped toward and into the pillar of light.

"No," Hela murmured in utter disbelief. She, in her overconfidence, had completely forgotten about the sword. "NO!"

At this time, Doom finally managed to rouse himself from his lengthy fall. His body ached from the landing and from having his newfound power forcibly removed. "Cursed Strange," he cursed. "I swear on my mother's—"

" **Doom."**

Doom's eyes widened. A cold chill ran up his spine when he heard the voice. "Odin? It can't be."

" **Your wretched scheme is undone, and your black soul is mine."** The pillar of light dissipated, revealing Odin, fully healed and back to full power. He reached out a hand toward the petrified Doom, then jerked it back. Suddenly, an eerie green shadow flowed out of Doom and into his hand – Doom's very soul, trapped in the palm of the All-Father's hand. "An eternity of suffer is the fate of those who challenge the gods."

With him easily dealt with, Odin swiftly sheathed the Oversword, thus ended Ragnarok and stripping the spawn of his wicked son of their heightened power. "You three have caused more than enough trouble here on Midgard. Begone, so speaks Odin."

"Never, _grandfather,_ " Hela hissed. She brandished to wickedly jagged swords and lunged at the All-Father, followed quickly by her two brothers. "DIE!"

With ease, Odin swatted them away with a mere sweep of his arm. His eyes filled with the divine, unspeakable power of the Odinforce. "I say to thee, BEGONE."

A swirling white portal opened behind Hela. Icy cold winds and snow washed over her petrified form. Like an irresistible black hole, it drew her into itself. She scratched and clawed at anything solid, hoping beyond all possible hope to delay her banishment to the damnable crater that was all that was left of Niffleheim.

There was no escape.

She screamed blood murder, and that proved to be the last thing they heard of Hela as the portal closed into nothingness.

As for her brothers, they suffered the same fate. Jormungand was forcibly turned intangible and was drawn back into the dank, dark pits under the surface of the planet from which he rose. As for Fenris, ultra powerful chains flew in from out of nowhere and wrapped themselves around him. The wolf god was completely immobilized and was unable to resist being pulled back from his prison Odin's throne.

The three threats to Earth's safety had been dealt with swiftly. Odin lifted his hand and held it out toward the horde of undead soldiers Hela resurrected shortly after her arrival. A circular, glowing rune appeared under them. Magical energies flared up from the rune, reducing the zombies back into the old, ashy piles of dust from whence they came.


	28. Far From Home

**_Far From Home_**

The reports from SHIELD that arrived shortly after Odin's arrival confirmed it; the apocalyptic event known as Ragnarok was over as far as Earth was concerned. With it ended Doom's reign over the planet. The world was safe once again, but at great, immeasurable cost. Even though Doom's battle with Hela was contained within the borders of Latveria, its effects were felt around the planet. The backlash of their clash destroy everything in its path, even as far as Nevada, where Frigga had been battling Malekith. The collateral damage was staggering, not to mention the loss of life.

The heroes who fought tooth-and-nail against the Latverian monarch were definitely worse for wear as a result of their efforts. Many of them were unconscious; those that were awake weren't going to be moving under their own power for some time.

"What a mess," Clint commented sadly. His sharp eyes scanned across the wasteland that had once been a proud Eastern European superpower. "It'll take years to rebuild everything."

Scott sighed and nodded his agreement.

"Wakanda will do what we can," T'Challa swore, mainly to himself. "I have never seen eye to eye with Doom on any matter, but his people do not deserve to have their lives uprooted because of his ambition and greed."

"I assume the rest of the planet looks pretty much the same," Bobby asserted. "That energy wave those two created looked like it went a pretty long way."

"We won't know until Coulson gets back to us," Scott replied, "but I wouldn't be surprised if you were right."

Meanwhile, Odin walked over to his fallen son and helped him to his feet. "Rise, my son. The battle has been won."

Thor looked like he had seen better days. Fenris' savage, brutal attack left him with scores of bloody cuts across his body. His face and neck were had bloody bite marks. Worst of all, his eye had been clawed out, leaving him with only one remaining. In all, this was likely the worst day he had suffered in some time. At least his father was safe and sound. All he needed was confirmation that his mother was okay, and everything would have been fine.

He leaned on his father as he was helped upright. "Father, 'tis agreeable to see you back at full strength."

"Indeed," he agreed. "Your mortal allies fought valiantly against insurmountable foes. Their heroism and valor has not been overstated." With a simple exertion of his power, Odin healed Thor enough for the latter to stand under his own power. He then went on to do the same to the others.

Father and son walked over to them as they began to rouse themselves and rise to their feet. "Young heroes, 'tis plainly clear that my son spoke true in regards to your strength and courage. I am forever in your debt for the return of my power."

Steve nodded numbly; mostly because he was exhausted, but also because he was in the presence of such a powerful god. Once again, Odin's casual dismissal of Hela and the other Asgardian gods was a staggering reminder that they humans were actually very low on the overall totem pole. That they managed to survive this long only meant that the likes of Hela and Doom had been toying with them all this time, to their own detriment. While they had somehow gotten lucky for a second time and managed to hold out for a much stronger ally to clean up the mess for them, he knew that a strategy like that was unsustainable.

If Earth was going to, as Thor put it years ago, engage in higher forms of war, they needed to maximize their own strengths and minimize the weaknesses. In short, they needed to figure out a means of defending themselves without relying on the likes of Odin and the Phoenix. There was going to come a time where the enemy of the day outclassed even them. When that day finally came, the Earth was going to find out definitively whether or not they measured up and were as powerful as they thought.

Steve hoped that day was far off, but he knew he couldn't act like it was. Doom taught them a valuable lesson, one he hoped to learn from and improve.

There was one last thing left to accomplish. Odin's power flared majestically, filling the sky with a brilliant cerulean light that peeled back Thor's dark storm clouds. With an utterance of an ancient, perhaps long dead language, he reversed the damage done by Doom's misuse of his powers. Buildings were restored, those killed were returned to life – though, not without a heavy price, as a far off planet learned suddenly – and the planet's surface was restored.

All was made the way it was prior to Doom's clash with Hela. With that last decisive action, Doctor Doom's presence on the planet Earth was erased. The threat was over and the planet was safe once again.

"Damn, gotta hand it to Thor's dad. He did a hell of a job fixing things up," Coulson commented. He and a few other SHIELD agents arrived via teleportation to survey the battlefield and collect statements for their reports to the WSC. "It would have taken literal decades if we had had to do it ourselves."

Steve nodded, but didn't reply. His gaze was set firmly on the sky above. If it was possible, he would have gazed even further, into the distant stars beyond them.

"Cap?"

A hand tore his attention away from his ruminations. He turned to find Coulson and Clint looking at him. A few others were giving him glances in the distance. "Uh, yeah?"

"We won. You don't have to think it over too hard," the archer chastised lightly.

Steve nodded and sighed. "I know. But, today was a wake-up call. If Odin hadn't shown up when he did, we'd be dead. If not by Doom's hand, then Hela's for sure. We can't keep depending on higher powers to show up at the last minute. It happened twice, but third time's a charm, as they say."

"I...I'm pretty sure you have that backwards."

"I mean we can't hope for it to happen for a third time. What if Thanos shows up next with those infinity gems? Not even Odin can match up to more than one, and I don't Jean can either."

"If even the All-Father and the Phoenix fall to Thanos," T'Challa stated grimly as he approached them, "then we will fall shortly thereafter. That is one battle, Captain, in which we _will_ need higher powers to prevail. Anything less will mean our demise."

"Speaking of Jean, where is she?"

"'Tis strange, Father. I thought for certain we would have witnessed the arrival of Surtur and his army of demons by now," Thor said, perplexity in his voice. "And yet, nothing from the fire demon."

"Indeed. I have my doubts that he would willingly ignore this opportunity to bathe the universe in fire, as is his destiny," Odin replied. "Something else must have captured his attention."

"Something of greater import than this?"

"Mayhap. Or, mayhap something else."

* * *

Jean let Surtur's crown slip from her fingers and floated serenely to the ground beneath her feet, where it landed with a soft thud. Ash and flames were all around her, but that was _all_ that was around her. The endless horde of fire demons, as well as their king and master, were all things of the past; distant memories and nothing more.

It hadn't taken long for her to utterly overwhelm Surtur. Once the Phoenix Force came to the fore, the fight was over before it even started. And now, Jean found herself alone in this literal hell. _Scott..._

She didn't know how long she had been missing. At least a day by her estimation. The watch on her wrist had burned off during the brief battle, so she was without any way of telling time. It wasn't like Surtur had a clock anywhere. Did he even know how to tell time?

It didn't matter. She only hoped that not too much time had passed. She hoped that Scott was still alive. She still didn't know what Doom had planned, but whatever it was, it wasn't going to be good. _Damn it. I have to get out of here. But how?_

She was in another dimension. If she understood her Norse lore right, this place – Muspelehim, she believed – was connected to all the other Norse worlds like Asgard. Meaning there should have been a way for her to travel from there to Asgard safely. Then again, it was probably locked up.

She just happened to look up and noticed a small orange circle floating in midair. She frowned contemplatively and flew up to investigate. _It looks like a portal._ She recalled Surtur mumbling something about a rag on a rock, or something like that. It _sounded_ important given how gravely he spoke of it; she wished she had held off long enough to make him explain what he was talking about. At any rate, this portal wasn't there when she arrived; that it was there now could only mean that this thing he was going on about was his ticket out of this place. And since he was dead, it was her ticket now.

It was just large enough for her to slip through without trouble. She found herself in Asgard, only it was a veritable ghost town. "So, this must be Asgard? Where is everyone?" There wasn't a soul to be found anywhere. No matter how loudly she shouted or where she looked, it was becoming more and more evident that she was the only person there. "This ragna-whatever must have been a big deal. This whole place is deserted."

Well, it wasn't any of her business. She just wanted to go home. "There should be a bridge around that leads to Earth." She remembered Thor talking about a Bifrost Bridge that he used to travel from Earth to Asgard and vice versa. She flew into the air to try and find it, and spotted a rainbow bridge leading to what looked like an observatory of some kind.

To her chagrin, it was empty too. The only thing of note was what looked like a cannon of some kind.

She sighed despondently. "I'm stuck here. There's no telling when anyone will show up." All of the power available to her, it shouldn't have been any trouble at all to cross into another dimension. As she walked out of the observatory, she noticed that there was a massive waterfall at this end. She looked back at the cannon, then nodded. _The bridge must be a beam of energy shot from that cannon to wherever they aim it. Pretty clever._

To investigate the waterfall further – she didn't want to leave a single stone unturned – she floated into the air and hovered over its edge. Where she had been expected a river or lake at the bottom, there was an endless sea of stars. She had thought Asgard was in a different dimension, but maybe that wasn't the case? Or maybe it was, and these stars were something else. She didn't know, but she was getting desperate. She had no idea how to operate the bridge; and even if she did, she had no way of aiming it so she was taken to Earth and not some faraway planet on the other side of the universe.

Not that that was an issue for her.

 _I don't want to stay here and wait for whoever to show up. I have to just hope for the best._

She sucked in a deep breath to calm herself, then moved to the edge of the waterfall. Then, she fell, fell straight down into the water. The water was cold and seemed to be dragging her downward into its murky depths. Before she could even think that this was a mistake, she was engulfed in the bright light that bubbled up from the bottom of this lake. She was dragged into the light, and opened her mouth to let out a soundless scream. It felt like she was being ripped apart molecule by molecule. The pain was excruciating; perhaps the worst pain she had felt in years.

Then, just when the pain and lack of air from being underwater were getting to be too much for her to bear, the light subsided. Then, there was nothing but darkness.

Jean's eyes fluttered open. Everything was blurry, so she reached up to rub her eyes until they cleared. When she reopened them, she found that she was in the middle of outer space. Instinctively, a film of flame enveloped her, providing her with air so she could breathe. _Where am I? How long have I been unconscious? Was I unconscious?_

Such important questions that she had absolutely no way of answering.

She mentally sighed. There was nothing for her to do but fly until she reached a planet, then she could use that to orient herself and figure out where the hell she was. If she _was_ in her dimension and not still in whatever dimension Asgard resided in, then it wouldn't be any trouble getting home from there.

A plan in mind, she started flying, exceeding the speed of light with the Phoenix Force active. _I'll be home soon, Slim._

* * *

Scott suddenly looked skyward. He could have sworn he heard Jean's voice in his head.

Ororo noticed him and frowned. "Scott? What is it?"

He hesitated to answer. He didn't want to seem like he was losing it, but he _knew_ he heard Jean in his head. That must have meant that not only was she still alive, but she was close enough to contact him. Which meant that it wouldn't be long before she found her way back home. "Ah, it's nothing, Storm. Just thinking."

Her eyes narrowed a touch, but she still smiled all the same. "If you say so. We should head home."

 _Home._ "Yeah. Let's." _I'll see you soon, Red._

* * *

 _ **A/N:** The final chapter will be posted in a few days. I assure you no one will see the ending coming ;-)_


	29. Death's Hand I

_**Death's Hand I**_

 **Asgard – Two Days Later**

Two days passed since Doom's seizure of the Odinforce and subsequent, if not brief, control over the planet Earth. In that time, Odin did what he could to resurrect the fallen Asgardians. Those killed during Doom's siege of the shining city had to remain dead, sadly. He just could not justify sacrificing more innocent lives galaxies away. Those killed during Hela's attack, however, he was able to reawaken, since they died during Ragnarok. Thus, while Asgard wasn't at full capacity again – and wouldn't be for some time – it was once again filled with gods and goddesses, all of which were eternally grateful to their king for remembering them in this day of rebuilding.

When they returned to Asgard, Thor found a silver necklace with a J hanging from it. It didn't look like anything an Asgardian woman would wear, thus it was safe for him to conclude that it must have been left by one of the heroes. Yet, none of them – to his knowledge – wore jewelry during missions. Also, it was found in the observatory, and none of the ones who freed the observatory from Master of Evil control had names that began with the letter J. "Intriguing."

"What is it, Thor?" Sif pondered.

"Someone else was here when we were gone." He showed her the necklace in question. The diamonds embedded on the J gleamed brightly in the waning sunlight. "I know not who it belongs to, but I reckon it holds some sentimental value."

"Mayhap. However, let us not concern ourselves with that. Come. Let us rest our bodies and minds after the past days' horrendous ordeal." She wrapped an arm around his and tugged him back in the direction of the palace.

Thor's injuries still ached, but he was feeling much better than he was a few days ago. However, his eye was still missing. His mother, in a bid to lighten his mood with a bit of levity, teased that it made him look even more like his father. To that, he smiled, but it was hollow.

Thor simply could not bring himself to feel joy at the moment. His brother's betrayal, his niece's slaughtering of hundreds of thousands of innocent Asgardians, and her subsequent assault on Midgard with his nephews; it all left a sour taste in his mouth. One that would indeed not be cleansed for some time. That cleansing process would not start until Loki was returned to Asgard to answer for his treasonous acts.

Such a time came far sooner than he could have hoped. A mere day after Odin dispatched a pair of Valkyries to apprehend the traitorous god, they returned with him bound and gagged. "Allfather, we have Loki," one of them reported.

"Excellent, Bryst. Bring him forth."

The two warrior women literally dragged an oddly amenable Loki toward his adoptive father, who would serve as his judge.

"Loki Odinsson. You have been charged with treason against the throne of Asgard, a crime befitting of execution. As I caught you in the act of aiding enemies of Asgard, I have no need to hear your defense, as there is no defending against that which was done in plain sight. However, I would hear of your reasons for this treachery."

The muzzle was removed from Loki's mouth, allowing him to speak.

For a very long time, Loki said nothing. He merely looked up at the ceiling, which had a mural depicting Odin's and his father's greatest triumphs over their eons as rulers of Asgard.

Odin waited patiently, knowing that his son would speak only when ready to do so.

Thor, however, was growing impatient, and more so by the second. Finally, after ten whole minutes of nothing but tense silence, he snapped. "Speak, you damnable snake!" His booming voice echoed through the silent court, each word bouncing the golden walls like it was an echo chamber.

Again, Loki didn't respond. Instead, his gaze continued to linger on the mural above him. Finally, after twenty agonizing minutes, he spoke. "I have a reason to have betrayed the throne."

If they were expecting him to actually elaborate on what that reason was – and they were – they were disappointed. Odin and Frigga remained patient as they waited for more, yet their sons were on the brink of lashing out.

"Why you," Balder ground out through gritted teeth.

"Enough, my sons," Odin warned. "Allow your brother the chance to speak."

"What? With all due respect, Father, this... this scoundrel deserves no such dignity. He betrayed us all into the hands of Doom. There is no valid reason or excuse that he could conjure forth that could and would explain that away. Just put him to death. Do not deign to subject yourself to this man's lies."

Odin remained silent, even while Loki chuckled to himself.

"What is so funny, dog?!" Tyr roared.

"Tyr, please," Frigga pleaded.

"No, Mother. I have had all I can stand of this. For millennia, we have give Loki chance after chance to change his ways. And yes, he would improve for the better for a little while, but as surely as the sun does rise each morn, he returns to his wicked ways. This time has been worse than ever before!"

"Tyr speaks truly," Thor agreed. "For more years than I can remember, we have overlooked Loki's transgressions. And every time, he has taken advantage of our forgiveness and betrayed us. Each time worse than the last." He looked down, lips tugged toward the floor. "Mayhap 'tis time we ceased."

Every word felt like he was trying to swallow fire from the hottest inferno. It hurt him to his very core, but it was the truth and needed to be said. Loki had done nothing but abuse their forgiveness time and time again, to their detriment. This time, he crossed a line that should never have been crossed. Once he did, his fate was sealed.

* * *

Heimdall's observatory was quiet, the waters beneath it still and calm. Heimdall stood at the edge, overseeing the cosmos with his all-seeing gaze. Nothing could escape his notice, unless it was conceal by powerful magic. Even now, he saw Amora the Enchantress making her way through a busy town square on a faraway planet. He observed all he could about the square so he could give an accurate report to Odin.

All was calm, much to his approval. After the hectic panic of days past, they could use a period of quiet and peace to calm their nerves and gather their wits about them as their home was slowly repopulated. With hope, this period of inactivity would last a good while.

Suddenly, the waterfall stopped falling. "Hm? What is this?"

Then, seemingly on its own, the water shifted and formed what looked to be a staircase leading from the veil between Asgard and the dimension of Midgard. If he hadn't been watching it with his own eyes, he would never have believe it. "Impossible." He could detect no magical energy. Whoever was doing this, they weren't a sorcerer.

Then, six people emerged from the veil and quickly climbed up the watery steps. "No! It cannot be!" Heimdall drew his blade and prepared to defend the way into Asgard with his very life. He was outnumbered and outmatched, but it was his duty to defend the Bifrost Bridge, and that was what he was going to do.

When the first of the six reached the observatory, Heimdall lunged with a powerful bellow. "FOR ASGARD!"

* * *

Odin had remained silent throughout the outbursts, allowing everyone the chance to speak their thoughts. When it appeared that they, and Loki, had nothing more to say, he spoke. "Very well. In light of your testimony, Loki, I sentence you to life—"

"Father, please see reason!" Thor blurted. His brothers all murmured their agreement.

"I am, Thor. For I see more deeply into this matter than you or your brothers. There is more at stake here than simple treason."

Odin left it at that, leaving Thor frustratingly in the dark. What could he possibly have been talking about, more at stake than simple treason? What more was there that he was missing? His brow furrowed. "Very well. Loki, I hope you appreciate our father's undeserved kindness."

Loki snorted. " _Our_ father? Why, dear brother, I do believe you are mistaken. The man on that throne is not, nor has ever been _my_ father."

"This again?!" Tyr bellowed.

"The Allfather has quite literally spared your life from a deserved execution and you have the audacity to once again claim that he is not your father?" Balder seethed. "The temerity. The gall. The—"

"Fact of the matter, Balder," Loki interjected, "is that genetics disagree with you."

"No," Odin rumbled softly before anyone could retort. "Loki is correct. I am not his father. Frigga is not his mother. You are not his brothers. Angela is not his sister. These are all undeniable truths, and Loki is correct is stating them. However, have we not treated you as one of our own for your entire life? Everything Tyr, Thor, Balder, and Hermod enjoyed, you have as well. I have withheld nothing from you, have I? You lived a life of luxury, the finest Asgard has to offer was at your disposal. There was nothing that you could not obtain."

Loki's reply was noticeably delayed. Usually, the sharp-tongued liar would have had a razor thin reply waiting the moment Odin opened his mouth to speak. Yet, this time, he refrained from speaking again. "Except the throne," he countered, somewhat half-heartedly. "Everything except the one thing I wanted."

"Loki," Frigga spoke gently. "You would be a fine king, I know this to be true. But, our biological sons would have the right to the throne before you. But, you were never excluded."

Loki appeared to be ready to reply when he stopped. There was something in his eyes, Thor noticed, when he looked at their mother. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it seemed that something had broken inside the King of Lies.

Just then, Loki fell silent, all desire to argue his point seemingly dead on his wicked tongue.

Odin narrowed his eye as he watched the Jotun prince closely. "What is it, Loki?" Then, his gaze cut to the staircase, where six people were walking inside. "You! How did you get here?!"

The uncanny outburst drew everyone's attention to the top of the stairs, where the six were standing tall. There were four men and two women. They were all wearing some variation of the same black, gold, and white uniform. One man had tan skin, glowing yellow eyes, and razor sharp teeth protruding out of his mouth. He was wrapped in a hooded black cloak, and was holding a wickedly sharp scythe in his hand.

The man next to him was about two feet taller, had the same color skin, glowing yellow eyes, and protruding teeth. He was only wearing black pants, leaving his overly muscular upper body exposed. He wielded a massive war-hammer and equally massive battle ax.

The woman next to the first was blue skinned with long bluish-white hair and soulless white eyes. She had a pair of horns protruding from her forehead, which bent back and curled upward. She was armed with a large golden spear. The woman beside her was also blue skinned, and wore a hooded white cloak over her uniform.

The fifth man of the far right had tan skin and short white hair. He wore baggy, loose fitting pants and a very long black, gold, and white tunic. He, like the woman in the white cloak, was unarmed.

Odin knew well who these five were, but his attention was focused squarely on the sixth and – beyond the shadow of all doubt – most dangerous.

Thanos.

– **End–**

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ And there you have it. This took a lot longer than I intended, and for that I'm sorry. I'll try to get the chapters for the next story out at a more reasonable clip. If you haven't guess, the next story will by my adaptation of Infinity Wars, and I hope to have the first chapter up by mid-September at the latest. Hope you guys enjoy :-)


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